Calls Me Home
by Daddy's LiL HeartBreaker
Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.
1. Pilot

Title: Calls Me Home

Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ruby Singer, Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and a whole ton of others.

Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to Eric Kripke & Co. The title belongs to the song "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

A/N: Not really sure where the inspiration for this came from. I think it mostly stemmed from various conversations with Becks Rylynn about how we imagined how certain Supernatural episodes would be if Ruby had been in them. Okay, so I know that under characters it says Ruby Singer. Well, truth is, Ruby is human in this story and I wracked my brain trying to figure out a back story for her. So the other night, I was thinking about this story and could picture the episode where Bobby dies clearly. I was wondering where Ruby would fit into the whole picture by that point in the story and just imagined her crying over Bobby despite being the tough girl she normally lets herself appear to be. I went back and forth for a while on whether to make her his daughter as I didn't want to undermine his bond with the Winchesters. I also own the book 'Bobby Singer's guide to hunting' and not to spoil anyone, there is something in the book that really cemented my choice in making Ruby be a Singer. I know that Bobby does say in the show that he never had kids because he didn't want to be like his father, but I'm combining that with the book a bit so hopefully Ruby's backstory will make sense.

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

_The Winchesters were seemingly the perfect family. They lived in a pretty two story blue house in a quaint neighborhood in Laurence, Kansas. John Winchester was an ex Marine who now worked as a mechanic in a local auto shop while wife Mary stayed home caring for the house along with caring for their four year old son Dean and six month old son Sam. Life was seemingly perfect for the Winchesters or at least that's how it seemed. It was the night of November 2, 1983 that their lives were forever changed in an instant. Sam was officially six months old that day. Mary couldn't believe how fast her baby was growing. The day was as normal as every other day had been. John came home from work that night and they along with little Dean put Sam to bed. It was later that night when Mary awoke to find herself alone in her bedroom. Dean was fast asleep in his room and as she walked past the nursery, she saw the shadow of a man standing by the crib. She smiled believing it to be John and walked downstairs for a drink._

_Then she head the sounds of the TV being on and checked only to see John asleep in his chair. Panic and fear coursed through Mary's body as she suddenly ran back up the stairs to the nursery. John was startled awake by the sound of Mary's scream echoing through the house. He ran up the stairs as fast as he could and went into Sam's nursery only to find that everything seemed normal. He checked on the infant who seemed to be okay and then noticed the red speck a few inches from Sam's small head. Then there another red speck and then another. John glanced up at the ceiling only to see the sight that he would never forget. His beloved wife pinned to the ceiling with her leg at an odd angle and a bleeding gash across her stomach. He was horrified and screaming her name. Dean walked in just as Mary burst into flames and John snapped out of it grabbing Sam. He placed the infant into Dean's arms and ordered his oldest son to carry his brother outside. He told him to never look back._

That was twenty two years ago. Now Sam was attending Stanford University with a major in Pre-law and lived with his girlfriend Jessica in an apartment on campus. Dean, on the other hand, was still hunting the things that went bump in the night and in the day. It was just past midnight when Dean pulled up in his 1967 black Chevy Impala that had been passed down to him from their father. Naturally it was dark and quiet outside the apartment building on the Stanford campus. The feisty blonde was fast asleep beside him in the passenger's seat. Dean quietly let himself out of the car and headed up to his brother's apartment. Pulling out his trusty lock pick, he was in the apartment in a matter of moments. The younger Winchester's eyes popped open at the faint sound of movement coming from within the apartment. He crept out of bed carefully as to not wake his girlfriend and tracked the sounds to the living room. Making out the silhouette of a man thanks to the slight beams of moonlight peeking through the curtains, Sam went straight for him. A fight broke out and soon they were both on the ground. They wrestled around until Dean managed to get the upper hand pinning him to the ground.

"Whoa, easy there, Tiger." Dean chuckled softly as he glanced down at his younger brother.

"Dean?" Sam glanced up at him as his face twisted into an expression that was a mix of confusion and relief. "You scared the crap out of me."

"That's because you're out of practice." Dean teased before finding himself on the ground staring up at his brother. "Or not. Get off of me."

"Dean, what the hell are you doing here?" Sam asked as he stood up before helping Dean up.

"Well I was looking for a beer." He started only to notice his brother's patented bitch face was on display. "Okay, alright, we have to talk."

"Uh, phone?" He questioned as if it were a no brainer.

"Would you of really answered if I had called?" Dean questioned though they both knew the answer to that.

Just then the lights flicked on and standing in the doorway that led to the back of the apartment was a tall curly blonde in pink short shorts along with a light blue Smurfs baby tee. All she said was Sam and he was about to assure her that everything was fine when another blonde made her presence. This one was shorter than Jessica with long straight blonde hair, a black leather jacket, vintage t shirt, black jeans, and black boots. Without saying a word, she walked straight up to Dean and smacked him hard upside the head. Sam couldn't help chuckling slightly at the scene before him and then snapped out of it as he focused on his girlfriend again.

"Jess, this is Dean. Dean, this is Jessica, my girlfriend." Sam introduced the two with a slight smile on his face.

The tall blonde nodded her head and smiled. "Dean, right. You're Sam's brother."

"I love the Smurfs." He remarked stepping closer toward her as he checked her out. "You know, I got to tell you, you are way out of my brother's league."

And with that, the shorter blonde smacked him again rolling her bright blue eyes, "Dean, upstairs brain please."

"And this is Ruby Singer. Family friend and practically the big sister I never had. Ruby, this is my girlfriend Jessica." Sam introduced chuckling again at his brother.

Ruby smiled genuinely at the other blonde and shook her hand, "I've heard so much about you. It's nice to finally meet you."

"What? Since when..." Dean trailed off seeing Ruby shooting him a look as if saying they'd discuss this another time and he quickly shut up.

Jessica smiled brightly returning the hand shake and glanced at them all. "Well it's great to finally meet you both. Let me just go put something on."

"No, no, no. I wouldn't dream of it. Seriously. Anyway, we've got to borrow your boyfriend here for a minute for some private family business, but it was nice meeting you too." He announced draping his arm around Ruby's waist pulling her to him ignoring her eye roll.

"No, anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of Jess." Sam said moving to be by her side draping his arm around her shoulders.

"Okay, well, Dad hasn't been home in a few days." Dean spoke carefully hoping to get the hint across to Sam.

"So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in soon enough." Sam brushed it off stubbornly not getting the hint completely.

"Dad's on a hunting trip and he hasn't been home in a few days." He cleared his throat speaking in a more serious tone hoping to get his point across this time.

"Um, Jess, excuse us. We're just going to step outside for a moment." Sam said finally getting the hint and kissed his girlfriend's head before heading outside.

He walked with Ruby and Dean down the stairs to the Impala. She just listened at first as Sam told Dean he couldn't just break in during the middle of the night and expect him to go on the road with them. He was right, of course, but she knew how much Dean missed him. She leaned against the Impala snapping out of her thoughts when she heard them arguing.

"I swore I was done hunting for good!" Sam exclaimed in a huff looking at his older brother.

"Come on, it wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." Dean said downplaying the whole thing just a bit.

"Yeah? When I told dad I was afraid of the thing in my closet he gave me a .45."

"Well, what was he suppose to do?"

"I was 9 years old. He was supposed to say 'Don't be afraid of the dark.' "

"Don't be afraid of the dark? What, are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark! You know what's out there!"

"Yeah, I know, but still, the way we grew up after mom was killed, and dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her, but we still haven't found the damn thing so we kill everything we can find."

"And save a lot of people doing it."

"You think mom would have wanted this for us? The weapon training and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors." Sam said shaking his head and signing softly.

It was then that Ruby chose to speak up as she moved to open the trunk rifling through it. "Sam, no mother wants that for their child, but you do what you have to do to protect your own. Yes, your dad went about things the wrong way, but he didn't want to lose you guys the same way that you all lost your mom. So he did what he could to protect you."

"So, what are you gonna do? You just gonna live some normal, apple-pie life? Is that it?" Dean said completely ignoring everything that Ruby had just said.

"Not normal. Safe."

"And that's why you ran away?"

"I was just going to college. It was dad who said if I was gonna go, I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble this time if not already dead. I can feel it. We need your help. We can't do this without you, Sammy."

"Yes, you can."

"Yeah, well I don't want to."

"So what was he hunting? And why didn't you go with dad?" Sam asked with a sigh as he scratched his head.

"I was working my own gig down in New Orleans with Ruby. A voodoo thing." He shrugged as Ruby handed him a recorder.

"He let you go hunting on your own.." He trailed off pausing before shooting an apologetic look toward Ruby. "I mean, on your own with Ruby?"

"Dude, I'm 26. What dad doesn't know won't kill him."

Ruby rolled her eyes and handed a file to Sam who flipped it open studying the contents.

"So dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago this guy, they found his car but he'd vanished, completely M.I.A." Dean pulled a photo out to show Sam the missing guy and the wreckage of the car.

"Maybe he was kidnapped." He shrugged considering it a plausible explanation.

"Yeah, well here's another one in April, another one in December '04, '03, '98, '92. Ten of them over the past 20 years, all men, all same 5-mile stretch of road. Started happening more and more so dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough." He takes out his phone and goes into his voicemail. "And then I get this voicemail."

_**"Dean, something is starting to happen, I think it's serious. I need to try to figure out what's going on,**_" said John and most of the voicemail was trashed after more of the static interrupted it. _**"Be very careful Dean, we're all in danger."**_

"You know there's EVP on that." Sam pointed out after listening to the voicemail carefully.

"Not bad, Sammy. Kind of like riding a bicycle, isn't it? Ruby, why don't you tell him what you did?" He chuckled teasing his brother slightly before glancing over at the blonde.

"Well, I slowed the message down and ran it through a Gold Wave. Took out the hiss and this is what I got." She glanced over at Dean who turned on the recorder. A woman's voice was heard. "I can never go home."

"Never go home." Sam repeated glancing at both of them.

"You know, in almost two years, I've never bothered you. Never asked you for a thing." Dean remarked putting everything back in the trunk and shut it.

"Alright, I'll go, but I have to be back by Monday." Sam relented finally agreeing to his brother's wishes.

"Why? What's Monday?" He glanced over at Sam curiously.

"I have an interview."

"A job interview? Eh, skip it." Dean smirked chuckling slightly.

"It's a law school interview and it's basically my whole future on a plate." Sam admitted nodding slightly.

Ruby's eyes widened and she grinned throwing herself into Sam's arms hugging him tightly, "Oh my god, that is amazing, Sam! I'm so proud of you, kiddo!"

"Law school?"

"So we got a deal or not?"

"Yeah we do." Dean nodded watching Sam go inside before looking at Ruby, "Excited much?"

Ruby glared at him slightly and shook her head. "Shut up. I'm just happy for him, okay?"

* * *

"Want breakfast?" Dean asked Sam who was going through his cassette tapes.

"No thanks. So how'd you pay for this stuff anyway? You and dad still running credit card scams." He asked still looking through the cassette tapes.

"Yeah well, hunting ain't exactly a pro-ball career. Besides, we just fill out the applications. Their fault for sending the cards." Dean said as he got back into the car offering food and drink to Ruby who was stretched out across the back and gladly accepted it.

"Yeah and what names did you write on the application this time?"

"Uh, Bert Aframian and his son, Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal."

"Sounds about right," said Sam. "I swear man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection."

"Why?" Dean asked only to roll his eyes hearing Ruby snort in the back as she failed miserably to keep from laughing.

"Well, for one, they are cassette tapes and two, Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica? It's the greatest hits of mullet rock."

"House rules, Sammy." He remarked grabbing a tape and popping it into the player. "Driver picks the music. Shotgun shuts his cakehole."

"And Sammy is a chubby 12 year old. It's Sam, okay?"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. The music's too loud." Dean pulled out of the gas station and turned the volume up letting Back In Black blast throughout the car.

* * *

As they got closer to Jericho, Sam began to make various phone calls. There was no one matching their father's description at the hospital or the morgue. They arrived at the bridge only to see a blockade of police cars. Dean stopped the car pulling out three fake IDs handing one to Sam and one to Ruby. They were posing as Federal Marshalls and unfortunately didn't learn anything new from the cops at the scene. After returning to the Impala, the three of them split up with the boys going off to interview the latest victim's girlfriend Amy while Ruby headed off to the library to do some research. She started by looking up the history of the bridge, but nothing really stood out. The blonde had just moved over to the computers when she spotted Sam and Dean.

"We have something on the town. A local legend of a woman who had gotten murdered near that bridge."

Ruby nodded her head listening as Dean spoke and then watched as he sat down in front of one of the computers. He went to Jericho's webpage and typed Female Murder Hitchhiking in the search bar. No results came up. He tried again using Female Murder Centennial Highway and once again there were no results. Ruby laughed slightly only to quiet down when Dean shot her a glare and Sam to that moment to steal the mouse.

"Let me try."

"I got it." Dean smacked his hand away only to get pushed aside. "Control freak."

"So angry spirits are born out of violent deaths, right?"

"Yeah," Dean said looking toward the computer screen again.

"Maybe it's not a murder." Sam typed in Female Suicide Centennial Highway and a result came up.

Ruby watched Sam click on the result link and a news article popped up onscreen. "This is from 1981. Constance Welch, Twenty Four years old, jumps off of bridge and drowns in river."

"Does it say why she did it?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"An hour before they found her, she had called 911. Her two little kids were in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, comes back, and they aren't breathing. Both die." Sam said reading from the article.

The blonde bit her lip in thought before reading a quote from the woman's husband. "Our babies were gone and Constance just couldn't handle it, said her husband Joseph Welch."

Beside the picture of Joseph was a picture of the bridge they had been at earlier.

"That bridge look familiar to you?" Dean pointed out and all three had the same thought.

They had to go back to that bridge.

* * *

"So do you think Dad would of been here?" Sam asked cocking his eyebrow after they peered over the railing of the bridge.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." Dean shrugged.

"Okay, so now what?"

"Now we keep digging till we find him. It might take a while."

"Dean I told you, I've gotta get back by-"

"Monday, right, the interview." Dean rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I forgot. You're really serious about this aren't you? You think you're just gonna become some lawyer? Marry your girl?"

Ruby narrowed her eyes knowing all of this wasn't helping anything, "Dean."

"Maybe. Why not?"

"Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you've done?"

"No and she's not ever going to know."

"Well, that's healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you are going to have to face up to who you really are." Dean said as he continued to walk along the bridge.

"Oh yeah and who's that?"

"One of us."

"No, I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life."

"Well you've got a responsibility."

"To dad and his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what mom looks like. What difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, mom's gone and she isn't coming back!" Sam exclaimed only for Dean to grab him and shove him against one of the rail posts of the bridge.

"Don't talk about her like that."

Ruby had never seen Dean so angry and upset before though she couldn't blame him. Unlike Sam, Dean still had actual memories of their mother. She could sympathize with him as she still had memories of her mother as well. Before she could even attempt to break them apart, a woman in a white dress caught her attention.

She smacked Dean's shoulder repeatedly trying to get his attention as she kept her eyes on the brunette woman, "Uh guys?"

They both followed her gaze as Dean let go of Sam and the three of them watched as the woman jumped off of the bridge. They ran to where she had jumped and peered over the railing. There was no sign of anyone down in the water. They didn't know where she went. Suddenly, they heard the all too familiar purr of the Impala's engine.

Ruby glanced over only to see the headlights flick on. "Uh Dean, who's driving your car?"

It was then that Dean pulled the keys out of his pocket. The engine revved up and suddenly the car began to drive toward them. They ran as fast as they could before hopping over the railing of the bridge. Suddenly everything went silent and the car came to a stop instantly turning off. Sam and Ruby were holding onto the railing, but Dean was nowhere to be found.

"Dean!" Sam called out in slight panic as he scanned the area for his older brother.

"Yeah, I'm alright." He called out as he stood up covered in what appeared to be mud eliciting a slight laugh from both Sam and Ruby.

The three of them made their way back onto the bridge with Dean inspecting the Impala before deeming it to be fine. They headed to a nearby motel for the night and Ruby was leaning against the car as the boys checked in. To their surprise, their father had been checked into a room there as well. They filled Ruby in and the three of them headed to John's room only for their eyes to widen at what they found. The walls were covered in pictures and newspaper articles.

"I don't think he's been here for a couple of days at least."

"Salt, cat's eye shells, He was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in." Sam noted as he studied the salt and the cat's eye shells.

"Centennial Highway victims. I don't get it. I mean different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There's always a connection right? What do these guys have in common?" asked Dean as he looked at the photos of the victims.

"Dad figured it out." The younger Winchester said gesturing to a printout of a picture of a woman in white on the wall. "He found the same article that we did. Constance Welch, she's a woman in white."

"You sly dogs. All right, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it." Dean said earning an eye roll from Ruby's direction.

"She might have another weakness."

"No, dad would want to make sure, he'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?"

"No, not that I can tell. If I were dad though, I'd ask her husband. If he's still alive."

"All right, why don't you see if you can find an address? I'm gonna get cleaned up."

"Hey Dean, what I said earlier, about mom and dad, I'm sorry."

"No chick flick moments." He said holding his hand up.

"Alright jerk."

"Bitch" Dean said then headed over to their room to clean up while Sam and Ruby gathered anything that might be of use from John's room.

* * *

"Hey man, I'm starving. I'm gonna grab a little something to eat at the diner down the street. You want anything?" Dean said a little while later as he stepped out of the bathroom in fresh clothes after his shower.

"No thanks."

"You sure, Sammy? Aframian's paying." Dean teased holding the credit card, "Alright then. Ruby, you in?"

Ruby nodded standing up stretching a little before following Dean out the door. They barely made it a few feet from the room when they spotted two cops walking toward them. Dean pulled out his phone warning Sam and telling him to go find their dad since the cops had spotted them yet didn't see Sam.

The blond sighed inwardly wondering if her daddy was going to kill her or Dean for getting her arrested. "Is there a problem officers?"

"So fake US Marshals, fake credit cards. You got anything that's real?"

"Her boobs." Dean nodded with a smug grin only to get elbowed hard in the side by Ruby.

With the cops distracted by them, Sam was able to gather all of their things and sneak out of the room through a back window. He managed to get to the Impala undetected and throw their things into the car before driving off. Meanwhile, Dean and Ruby were taken down to the local sheriff's office. They were held separately and Dean was being a bit of a smartass to the cop that was interrogating him. Then his father's journal was dropped down on the table in front of him. The cop pointed out a coordinate that John Winchester had written in the journal and left behind for his sons to find. Dean knew by now that his father was long gone from Jericho, California. Suddenly, all the cops were rushing out leaving Dean and Ruby alone. He grabbed a paper clip straightening it before unlocking his handcuffs.

"Ruby?" Dean called out in a hushed whisper as he walked out of the room tucking the journal away in his coat pocket.

Ruby was handcuffed to a desk feeling highly annoyed until she heard Dean's voice, "Over here!"

"Hey, I'll get you out of that in a second." He said as he caught sight of her and went over unlocking her handcuff.

She rubbed her wrist once the cuff was off and looked up only to realize just how close her face was to Dean's at that moment, "Thanks."

The blonde was beautiful. That was something he'd never deny. Still, this certainly wasn't the time. Grabbing her hand, Dean led her over to a window that opened out to an alley. He climbed out first landing on his feet and straightened up before looking toward the window. He gestured for her to climb out and she nodded her head before beginning to climb out. Ruby let go of the window sill falling until she felt him catch her instead of her landing on her feet. She shot him a grateful look and then he set her on her feet. The pair hurried away from the building finding a phone booth a few blocks over and Dean called Sam. Ruby just listened as Dean talked only to grow concerned when he suddenly looked panicked as he started calling out Sam's name.

"Let's go. The Welch house isn't that far." Dean said as he stepped out of the booth before running with Ruby toward the house.

The Impala drove past them and Dean pulled out his gun shooting at the ghost.

"I'm taking you home." With the ghost gone for the moment, Sam floored it and drove the Impala right into the Welch's old home.

"Sam!" They both yelled as they ran toward the house going in through the hole the Impala made.

"Sammy, you okay?" Dean asked with an obvious look of concern upon his face as he peered through the open Impala window at his younger brother.

"I think."

Ruby sighed in relief and peered in as well. "Can you move?"

"Yeah, help me."

The two of them helped Sam out of the car and he stretched his body out a bit. Suddenly, all three of them ended up pinned between the Impala and an old dresser. They could only watch helplessly as the ghost stepped toward them only for her to stop and pick up a picture of her family. It was then that the spirits of her late children appeared and took her away. The dresser stopped pinning them once she was gone and they were able to push it away. It wasn't long afterward that the boys and Ruby drove back to the Stanford campus.

* * *

Reluctantly, Dean bid goodbye to his younger brother and watched as Ruby did as well. They watched him wave before he entered the building his apartment was in and then Dean drove off in the Impala. Sam walked into the apartment calling out his girlfriend's name only to find a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on the kitchen along with a cute little note from her. He smiled and grabbed a cookie before heading to their bedroom where he could hear the shower running. In the Impala, Dean headed down the road further away from the campus and glanced over at Ruby.

"You never told me that you kept in touch with Sam."

The blonde shook her head knowing this conversation was coming. "I didn't want to upset you, alright? Do you know how many times I've seen you pick up your phone to call him, but never actually going through with the call? Besides, someone had to look out for the kid and make sure he was doing right."

Before Dean could say anything in response, he noticed the time and remembering the date, he made a u turn speeding back toward Sam's apartment building. It was the exact time and day that their mother had died twenty two years ago. The last thing that Dean wanted was for history to repeat itself. As he pulled up outside the building, Dean quickly got out of the car and ran inside the building with Ruby alongside him. Sam was still in his room laying in his bed with his eyes closed smiling contently. Then he felt it. A drop of water upon his forehead. He made a slight face and then relaxed again only to feel another drop a moment later. He made another face and his hazel green eyes opened only for him to be horrified at what he saw. Pinned to the ceiling with a look of shock upon her face was Jessica with her leg bent in an awkward position and a gash along her stomach. He sat up quickly and began screaming her name as he climbed out of the bed. Then suddenly he heard Dean calling his name as Jessica suddenly burst into flames. The elder Winchester brother burst into the room and grabbed Sam fighting to pull him out of the room. Ruby stared up in shock and stood there frozen for a few moments before snapping out of it when she heard Dean calling her name. She turned to run out of the room when she saw the picture on the dresser. It was of Sam and Dean's mother. Grabbing it, she quickly ran out of the room and found Sam's bag that he had dropped along the way. She carefully tucked the picture inside of the bag as she lugged it outside the apartment. A crowd gathered outside the building as emergency crews showed up to fight the fire. Dean and Ruby blended in with the crowd while Sam was by the Impala loading a shotgun in front of the open trunk. The pair then walked over to check on the younger Winchester and he simply looked at them as he set the shotgun back down in the trunk before slamming the trunk closed speaking only five ominous words.

"We've got work to do."


	2. Wendigo

Title: Calls Me Home

Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ruby Singer, Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and a whole ton of others.

Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to Eric Kripke & Co. The title belongs to the song "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

_The birds chirp as Sam walks through a cemetery with a bouquet of mixed flowers in his hand. He is dressed formerly in a suit and tie. The sun is shining brightly on this beautiful clear day as Sam sighs approaching a grave stone. Etched upon the stone are the words JESSICA LEE MOORE, Beloved Daughter, January 24th 1984- November 2nd, 2005. There's a small oval shaped picture of a grinning Jessica beside her name on the stone. As he looks down, he sees a black & white photo of her leaning against the headstone between a white teddy bear and a wooden box with a crucifix on it with a small American flag beside the box. Three candles are standing upon the stone. Sam looks at the stone then at the flowers before looking at the stone again._

_"I, uh.." Sam laughs, "You always said roses were...were lame so I brought you, uh.."_

_He trails off as his green eyes glisten with unshed tears. His gaze is upon the picture set in the stone and he glances away choking back the tears that are still threatening to fall. After a moment, he takes a step closer to the grave stone._

_"Jess, Oh god.." Sam kneels down setting the flowers before her grave stone, "I should have protected you. I should have told you the truth."_

_Sam leans the flowers in front of the crucifix and is caught off guard when an arm covered in dirt shoots out of the ground grasping his wrist tightly. _

Sam jerks awake and glances around only to relax a bit when he realizes he is sitting in the passenger seat of the Impala. Dean is driving while Ruby is in the backseat. It's the tenth of November and Sam blinks before rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Concern is evident upon Dean's face as he glances over at his younger brother.

"You okay?" Dean asked clearly ignoring the fact that Ruby had just leaned forward.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sam glanced over at him before looking away.

Ruby reached over smoothing the hair away from Sam's eyes. "Another nightmare?"

"You want to drive for a while?" He asked after the only response Ruby got from Sam was him clearing his throat.

"Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that." He remarked after laughing a bit.

"Just thought you might want to. Never mind."

"Look, man, you're worried about me. I get it, thank you, both of you really, but I'm perfectly okay."

"Mm-hm."

And with that, the blonde in the backseat chose to speak up again, "Dean, why don't you let me drive when I'm upset?"

"Because the one time you did drive, you ended up scratching her." Dean responded with a slight huff glaring at her lightly in the rear view mirror as Sam grabbed the map.

"Alright, where are we?"

"We're just outside of Grand Junction."

"You know what? Maybe we shouldn't of left Stanford so soon." Sam spoke as he folded down the map of Colorado that had a large red X labeled 35-111.

"Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you want to find the thing that killed Jessica.."

"We gotta find Dad first."

"Dad disappearing and this thing showing up after twenty years. It can't be a coincidence."

"It's weird. These coordinates he left us. This Blackwater Ridge."

The blonde leaned back in her seat glancing up at the guys, "What about it?"

"There's nothing there. It's just woods." Sam responded as he set the map down. "Why's he sending us out to the middle of nowhere?"

* * *

The trio end up at the Ranger Station just outside of the Lost Creek Trail which goes through the Lost Creek National Forest. Sam is looking at a 3D map of the forest pointing things out to Ruby while Dean is distracted by the decorations.

"It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place." Sam explained gesturing to the canyons he was referring to.

"Dude, check out this bear!" Dean exclaimed staring at a picture of a man with a rather large bear in awe.

"And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure." He remarked only to whip around along with Dean slightly startled when they hear a man's voice.

"You boys aren't thinking of going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" The ranger asked eyeing the guys curiously as Ruby stayed over by the map watching them.

"Oh, uh, no sir. We're environmental study majors from UC Boulder. Just working on a paper." Sam replied thinking quickly on his feet.

"Recycle, man." Dean grinned and raised his fist causing Ruby to shake her head in annoyance.

"Bull."

Sam's eyes flicker to Dean who doesn't move. Ruby tenses and tries to figure out her next move when the ranger speaks again.

"You're friends with that Haley girl, aren't you?"

As the boys consider this, Ruby takes action and steps forward grabbing Dean's hand interlacing their fingers. "Yes, yes we are, Ranger...Wilkinson. I'm one of Haley's best friends. This here is my boyfriend and that's my brother."

"Well I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?" The ranger explained looking at them, "So tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother is just fine."

"We will, sir. Well, that Haley girl is quite a pistol, huh?" With that said, Dean earned an elbow to his side courtesy of Ruby.

"That's putting it mildly."

The blonde looked at the Ranger and smiled as sweetly as she could, "Actually you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit. You know, so she could see her brother's return date."

After a moment of looking at them, the ranger went off to make that copy. The trio walked out of the ranger station with the copy in hand and headed straight for the impala. It was when they got there that Dean and Ruby realized they were still holding hands. He squeezed her hand lightly before letting it go.

"You did good in there, Ruby." He cracked a smile as they all piled into the Impala.

Ruby smiled and relaxed in the back, "Thanks."

* * *

Feeling that three people might seem like an overload, Ruby surprised the boys by volunteering to sit this interview out. So while they went off to talk to Haley Collins, the blonde huntress got them a room for the night and decided to do some research on Blackwater Ridge. She saved a few articles to show to the boys and then grabbed her phone. Scrolling through her contacts list, the blonde stopped when 'Daddy' was highlighted and pressed the call button placing the phone to her ear.

The phone rang three times before it was picked up and she heard the all too familiar gruff voice that made her smile brightly, "Hi Daddy."

Over in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a smile appeared on the face of the middle aged hunter. "Hey Darling. How is everything?"

Ruby visibly relaxed a bit as she spoke with her father. "Oh everything is fine, Dad. The boys and I are actually working a case right now. Blackwater Ridge in Colorado, actually. John left the coordinates for the boys. You haven't heard from him, have you?"

Bobby Singer sat up a little straighter and sighed. "No, I haven't, but if I do, I'm giving him a piece of my mind first. How's Sam holding up?"

The blonde bit her lip as she stretched out her legs along the bed. "He's doing as best as can be expected, I guess. Still having nightmares, but he insists that he's okay. We're taking care of him. Don't worry. I miss you, Daddy."

He chuckled softly and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I miss you too, sweetheart. Be careful out there."

* * *

After looking through the evidence they managed to get from Haley and the articles that Ruby found, the Winchesters had gone off to interview a possible witness to whatever was hurting people out in the forest. They returned to the motel afterward sharing their findings with Ruby. They all agreed that it was a creature. Possibly even a skinwalker or a black dog. It was Dean who ultimately decided that they'd go along with Haley into the forest knowing nothing would keep her from looking for her brother. Of course he tried to get Ruby to stay back, but she refused. So the next day the Impala pulled up to the outskirts of the forest where Haley was standing with her brother Ben along with a man named Roy who apparently was a hunter.

"Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue." Haley spoke up when Roy questioned as to who the Winchesters and Ruby were.

"You're rangers?"

"That's right."

"And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" The brunette looked him up and down skeptically.

"Oh, sweetheart, I don't do shorts." Dean remarked with a slight smirk as he glanced down at himself before walking on ahead earning an eye roll from Ruby.

The blonde in a black beater and denim shorts narrowed her bright blue eyes when the hunter for hire started in on Dean, "Look, Roy, all we want to do is help this girl find her brother. Now shut your mouth and start walking."

It seemed to do the trick and the group of six hiked peacefully through the forest. At least until Dean opens his big mouth and starts questioning Roy in regards to his hunting. The blonde is half annoyed and half amused by the time Roy stops Dean from nearly stepping into a bear trap. The group keep walking as Haley catches up to Dean.

"You didn't pack provisions. You guys are carrying a duffel bag. You're not rangers." She grabs his arm turning him halfway around to face her. "Who the hell are you?"

"Sam and I are brothers. We're just looking for our father. Ruby is a family friend who is helping us. Our father might be here. He might not. I just figured that you and me, we're in the same boat." Dean responded honestly after giving Sam a look as if to say it was alright to keep walking.

"Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?" She asked raising her eyebrow slightly in curiosity.

"I'm telling you now. Besides, it's probably the most honest I've ever been with a woman...ever. So we okay?" He admitted looking at the brunette before him as both were oblivious to the glare that Ruby was shooting in their direction.

"Yeah. We're okay."

"And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" Dean smirked pulling out a bag of peanut M&M's as he continued walking.

* * *

The group reach Blackwater Ridge and the silence around them is deafening. Not even the crickets were chirping. They continue on with Roy off ahead of them and stop to look around a large rock. It's Roy's voice calling for Haley that catches their attention and they all run off in his direction only to suddenly skid to a halt when they reach him. Roy had found Haley's missing brother's campsite. The tents were torn open and bloody. Supplies were scattered around the site. Haley grew even more upset and began calling out her brother's name. It was Sam that went over and got her to quiet down insisting there might still be something out there. Noticing the tracks left behind, Dean calls out for Sam while Ruby reluctantly takes up the job of trying to keep Haley calm. The boys return to the campsite after a few minutes and Dean walks over to Haley crouching beside her reassuring the brunette that her brother could still be alive. Then they all heard it. The sound of someone calling out for help. They all head out in the direction of the voice, but find no one. Sam ushers everyone back to the camp where they discover that their supplies are missing. Sam pulls Dean aside and gets him to pull out their father's journal where they find a page on the Wendigo. After finally agreeing that it was what they were hunting, they return to the rest of the group and Dean pulls Ruby aside.

"So after talking to Sam and checking out the journal, it looks like we're dealing with a Wendigo." Dean informed the blonde in a hushed whisper.

The blonde looked at him in surprise. "This far west? Well, It all does match up if you think about it."

Before Dean can say anything else, the sounds of Sam and Roy arguing caught their attention. Dean walked over breaking the argument up. By then, it had gotten dark and the group had started a campfire. Dean then drew symbols in the dirt around the campsite explaining to Haley and her brother Ben that they were Anasazi symbols. They were for protection as the wendigo couldn't cross over them. Roy laughs earning an eye roll from both Dean and Ruby. She sits down and tries to explain things as simply as she can to the Collins siblings while Dean went over to check on Sam who was in deep thought. After a few minutes, Ruby glanced over at the Winchesters only to see Sam smile which made her smile a bit as well. Then a twig snapped. Someone could be heard calling for help. It was the wendigo trying to draw them out. Then a growl was heard. Haley assured her brother that everything will be fine and then something rushes past eliciting a shriek from the brunette. Roy shot at the rustling numerous times and then exclaimed that he hit something. In his excitement, he ran off to see what he hit despite Dean telling him not to.

"Don't move." Dean instructs Haley and Ben before giving Ruby a knowing look.

She nods and grabs a stick shoving one end into the fire. Seeing that end light up, she handed it to Haley to use as a weapon before grabbing another stick doing the same though this time she kept it for herself. It goes quiet after a few minutes and Ruby briefly wondered if she'd ever see her father again. If the Winchesters would ever see theirs again. Then she hears the movement in the forest. She steadies herself ready to attack if necessary only to sigh in relief when she sees that it is just the Winchesters. They don't even have to say anything for the trio to realize that Roy was dead. The group of now five get as much sleep as they can before the morning comes. Sam shows the page about the wendigo in the journal to Haley and Ben as he along with Dean try to explain everything about the situation to them.

"And then how do we stop it?" Haley asked hoping they had figured out a way.

"We gotta torch the sucker." Dean remarked holding up the can of lighter fluid, the beer bottle, and the white cloth he had found which he planned on turning into a Molotov cocktail.

* * *

The group hiked through the forest passing by trees with claw marks and blood. After a while, Sam caught up to Dean and questioned if the wendigo's trail was a bit too easy to follow. A growl was heard at that moment and the boys whip around glancing everywhere. Haley takes a step back ending up standing under a tree. Blood dripped down onto her shirt and doesn't take her long to notice. She glances up only to leap out of the way. Roy's corpse lands where she once stood. Sam goes over to make sure she's okay while Dean examines Roy. He announces that Roy had a broken neck. Sam helps Haley up and then they hear another growl. Dean tells everyone to run and they all take off running. Ben falls so Sam turns around and goes back to help him up. At the same time, the wendigo appears in front of Dean and Haley. Dean tells Haley to run while trying to figure out how to free Ruby from the wendigo. As Ben and Sam run, a scream could be heard. It was Haley. Sam stops running finding the Molotov cocktail that Dean had been carrying. The bottle was broken.

"Dean!"

It was only a few feet ahead that Ben spotted a peanut M&M. Then another and another. He and Sam realized it was a trail left by Dean. They followed the trail to a mine entrance that had a warning sign urging people to stay out. Sam looked at Ben and shrugged before going inside with Ben following. The younger Winchester shined his flashlight around until he heard growling and promptly turned the flashlight off pulling Ben against a wall. The wendigo moves past them going down a different path. The guys keep going only to fall through the floorboards. They land in a pile of bones. Ben spots a pile of skulls nearby and leaps back only to be calmed by Sam. They looked up only to spot Dean, Haley, and Ruby hanging from the ceiling by their wrists. Ben gets Haley down while Sam gets Dean down.

"Hey, you okay?" Sam asked obviously concerned for his big brother.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go help Ruby." Dean winced as he sat down making pained noses.

Sam went over and cut Ruby down setting her beside Dean before going over to help Haley with her now found brother Tommy. The stolen supplies are piled up in the corn and Dean finds flare guns. He handed one to Sam and kept the other for himself. With Haley and Ben supporting their limping brother Tom, the Winchesters take the lead as the group heads down the tunnel only to stop when they realize that a limping Ruby is falling behind. Sam kneels down letting her climb onto his back carefully. With her legs locked around his waist tightly and her arms around his neck, Sam carried Ruby as the group made their way through the tunnels. Growling was heard just then. They knew that they'd never out run it.

"All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here."

"What are you going to do?" Haley asked looking over at him.

Dean simply winked at her before giving Ruby a reassuring look and then walked away yelling at the wendigo.

"Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I'm feeling _good_."

The farther he got away the harder it was to make out what he was yelling. Once Dean was a safe distance from them, Sam led the Collins siblings through the tunnels again. The group continued through the tunnels until growling was heard again. Sam told Haley and Ben to get their injured brother out of there. Haley was hesitant, but Ben got her to move. Ruby glanced around at the same time as Sam in search of the wendigo only to nearly scream when they came face to face with the creature. Sam shoots at it only to miss and takes off running. Haley spotted him and called out for the tall hunter as he caught up with them. The group keep running until they reach the end of the tunnel with the wendigo right behind them. Sam turns around blocking the Collins siblings from view although Ruby was still literally on his back. The wendigo approached them slowly obviously taking its time stalking its prey.

"Hey!"

The wendigo turned around only to see Dean standing a few feet away from it. He shoots at it embedding the flare within the creature and the flare goes off resulting in the wendigo going up in flames. The Winchesters ensure the thing is gone for good and then proceed to get the group out of the mine.

* * *

By the time they reached the ranger's station, it was nightfall. The ambulance loaded up Tom and Sam was helping Ruby over to the Impala after she had her ankle wrapped. Luckily for her it was only a twisted ankle. Ben had finished his interview with the officers by then insisting it was a bear that attacked them. He was now in the ambulance with Tom waiting for Haley to join them. She was over by the Impala talking to Dean both having already been patched up.

"So I don't know how to thank you." Haley admitted as she looked at him only to laugh at Dean's lascivious smirk, "Must you cheapen the moment?"

"Yeah." He smiled before a paramedic stopped by to ask Haley if she were riding with her brothers.

Sam nodded at Ben who nodded in return. Ruby gave them a nod and a wave. Haley smiled and kissed Dean's cheek.

"I hope you find your father." She said and nodded at Ruby before heading for the ambulance, "Thanks Sam."

They watch the ambulance drive off sirens blaring. After a moment, Dean breaks the somewhat silence.

"Sam, you know we're going to find Dad, right?"

"Yeah, I know, but in the meantime? I'm driving." He said earning a chuckle from Dean who tossed him the keys.

They got into the Impala and drove off into the night.


	3. Dead In The Water

Title: Calls Me Home

Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ruby Singer, Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and a whole ton of others.

Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to Eric Kripke & Co. The title belongs to the song "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

It's a few days after they left Colorado and the trio are at a diner attached to the Lynnwood Inn, the motel they were staying at. While Dean was looking at the obituaries part of the newspaper, Ruby was eating and looking through the main news section. An attractive waitress whose nametag read Wendy approached the table asking if anyone needed anything else.

"Just the check, please." Sam spoke softly as he sat down ignoring the look from Dean.

"You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while." He watched Wendy in her short shorts walk away and pointed at her, "That's fun."

Sam just looked at him with his patented bitch face, but it was Ruby who kicked Dean in the shin under the table. He winced and leaned down to rub his leg before handing the paper to Sam. He pointed to an obituary that he had circled. Last week in Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin, eighteen year old Sophie Carlton went swimming in the lake and never came out. The authorities dragged the water, but found nothing. It was the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies had been found either. Ruby bit her lip as the boys began to argue and then kicked Dean again when he got distracted by the waitress. It wasn't long before the three of them were piled back into the Impala heading toward Wisconsin. Once in town, the boys went off to speak with the Carlton family after dropping Ruby off at the local library to look into just how far these drownings go back. Will Carlton, Sophie's brother, informed the boys that Sophie had been a varsity swimmer, that she had been about a hundred yards out, and that she had been dragged down into the water. It was Sam that asked if they could speak with Will and Sophie's father though Will insisted that his father hadn't seen anything and he'd also been through a lot. So Sam followed Dean to the Impala and they headed off to the local police station posing as agents from the Federal Wildlife Service.

"Will Carlton was traumatized and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still.." Sheriff Jake Devins sat down, "We dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."

"That's weird, though, I mean, that's, that's the third missing body this year." Dean pointed out.

"I know. These are people from my town. These are people I care about." The Sheriff nodded.

They continued to talk and got onto the subject of the dam. It was falling apart and the feds wouldn't give the town the grant to repair it so they opened the spillway. In another six months, there wouldn't be a lake and probably wouldn't be much of a town either. A young woman knocked at the door interrupting the conversation and the Winchesters stood up looking at her. The Sheriff introduces her as his daughter. A little boy steps in around the woman.

"Oh, hey there. What's your name?" Dean asked the kid only to watch him walk back out into the main room with the woman following.

"His name is Lucas." The Sheriff pointed out.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked noticing how Lucas was acting.

"My grandson's been through a lot. We all have."

The three of them walk out of the office and Dean asks about a motel. Andrea Barr, the Sheriff's daughter, tells him about the Lakefront motel that is around the corner and two blocks south. Dean asked her if she could show them where it is and she laughs at the notion that he needs to be shown where something is two blocks away. She tells her father she'll be back to pick him up at three and tells Lucas she'll take him to the park later before walking out of the building with the Winchesters.

"So, cute kid." Dean spoke up as the three of them walked along the street.

Andrea smiled and nodded her head, "Thanks."

"Kids are the best huh?"

She glances at him and then keeps on walking. Sam just shook his head trying not to laugh at his brother.

Andrea stops when they reach the motel, "There it is. Like I said, two blocks."

"Thanks." Sam nods in appreciation.

Andrea nods and looks at Dean, "Must be hard, with your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line." She walked away and called out over her shoulder, "Enjoy your stay!"

"Kids are the best? You don't even like kids." Sam laughed as he pulled out his phone texting Ruby to let her know where they were staying.

"I love kids."

"Name three kids that you even know." Sam remarked and watched Dean think before waving his hand at him.

"I'm thinking!" Dean said scratching his head as he followed Sam into the motel.

* * *

When Ruby finally shows up to the motel room, she brings food along with her knowing the boys had to be hungry by now. They were and looked at her appreciatively as she handed them their food. She then sat down on one of the beds pulling out her laptop and logged on as they ate in comfortable silence.

"So there's the drowning victims this year." Sam spoke up as they began to discuss the case.

"Any before that?" Dean asked glancing over at Ruby knowing she had done the research.

Ruby nodded turning the laptop so both of the brothers could see, "Uh yeah."

The browser window is open to the Lake Manitoc Tribune. DROWNING TAINTS ICE FISHING FESTIVAL. Ruby clicked and another page popped up also from the tribune. 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL DROWNS IN LAKE. Second drowning in six months at Lake Manitoc.

She looks at them as she sips her soda, "Six more spread out over the last thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If something is out there, it's picking up its pace."

"So, what, we got a lake monster on a binge?"

"I don't think so. I mean, unlike Loch Ness or Lake Champlain, there are no eyewitness reports here. I mean, whatever is out there, no one has lived to tell about it." Sam explained as Ruby scrolled down to the comments section of one of the articles.

"Wait, Barr, Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?" Dean wondered as he pointed to one comment in particular.

"Christopher Barr, the victim in May." Sam read aloud from the page.

Ruby clicked on the link opening a new page. LOCAL MAN IN TRAGIC ACCIDENT. The picture loads. It shows a police officer with Lucas.

"Oh. Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband. Lucas' father. Apparently he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescued." Sam looked at the picture and scratched his head, "Maybe we do have an eyewitness after all."

"No wonder that kid was so freaked out. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over." Dean said and shared a look with Ruby for a moment.

* * *

It was after three when they found the local park. Just as they suspected, Andrea was there with Lucas. She was sitting on a bench watching him play with his toy soldiers and color. While Sam sat down beside her, Dean asked if he could go talk to Lucas before walking over to him. Ruby, on the other hand, was sitting at another bench that was closer to the kid and was pretending to read a book. Lucas has a pile of drawings in front of him. The top one is of a big black swirl and the drawing beside it is of a red bicycle.

"Hey, these are pretty good. You mind if I sit and draw with you for a while?" Dean picks up a crayon and begins to draw on a blank piece of paper, "I'm not so bad myself."

Ruby bit back a laugh when she heard that.

"You know, I'm thinking you can hear me, you just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age, I saw something." Dean paused and glanced at him, "Anyway. Well, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you, or, uh...or believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture about what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake. Okay, no problem. This is for you."

Dean handed the picture he drew to Lucas. It's of four stick figures. His father, His mother, his brother Sam, and himself.

"Alright, I'm a sucky artist. I'll see you around, Lucas." Dean heads over to Sam and Andrea while Lucas picks up the picture looking at it.

Andrea bit her lip as she watched her son, "Lucas hasn't said a word, not even to me. Not since his dad's accident."

"Yeah, we heard. Sorry." Dean sighed as Andrea nodded.

"What are the doctors saying?" Sam asked curiously with a sympathetic look upon his face.

She sighed, "That it's a kind of post traumatic stress. We moved in with my dad. He helps out a lot. It's just...when I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw..."

"Kids are strong. You'd be surprised what they can deal with." Dean assured her before Lucas approached them handing Dean a picture.

It was a picture of the Carlton house. Later that day, back at the motel, Ruby walked out of the bathroom dressed with her long blonde hair wrapped up in a towel. Dean was sitting on one of the beds. Just then Sam walked in and they looked over at him.

"So, I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie." The younger Winchester spoke as he sat down beside Dean, "I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead."

"He drowned?"

"Yep. In the sink."

Ruby's bright blue eyes widened, "What the hell? It's definitely not a creature then. What the hell are we dealing with?"

"I don't know. A water wraith, maybe? A demon? Something that controls water that comes from the same..the same source." Dean trailed off looking at Sam.

"The lake." Sam said completing Dean's thought, "Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time."

"And if it can get through pipes, it can get to anyone anywhere. It's going to happen again. Soon." Dean responded running his fingers through his hair.

The blonde sighed removing the towel from her hair, "Well, we do know one thing for sure. It has something to do with Bill Carlton. It took both his kids. Also I asked around. Turns out Lucas' father, Chris, was Bill Carlton's godson."

"Let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit." Dean said as he stood up.

The boys headed over to the Carlton house only to find Bill Carlton sitting on a bench looking out at the lake. Mr. Carlton refuses to answer any questions and tells the Winchesters to go away which they did. When they returned to the Impala, Dean felt that Mr. Carlton was hiding something. He also felt that perhaps Lucas knew something as well since he was the one that gave Dean a drawing of the Carlton house. The boys head over to Sheriff Devins house where Andrea is staying with Lucas. It takes a little convincing, but Andrea lets Dean talk to Lucas while she stands in the doorway of his room with Sam. Dean crouches down beside Lucas and smiles a bit.

"Hey, Lucas. You remember me?" He glances down at the drawings before looking at Lucas, "You know, I, uh, wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is I need your help again."

Lucas is drawing a picture of a person in water. Dean opens up the house picture and sets it down on the table.

"How did you know to draw this? Did you know something bad was gonna happen? Maybe you could nod yes or no for me." Lucas just continues to draw and Dean nods, "You're scared. It's okay. I understand. See, when I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom, and I was scared, too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you. But see, my mom—I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day. And I do my best to be brave. And maybe, your dad wants you to be brave too."

Lucas drops his crayon just then and looks up at Dean. He then hands Dean a picture of white church, a yellow house, and a boy with a blue baseball cap and red bicycle in front of a wooden fence.

"Thanks Lucas."

* * *

Outside the motel, the Winchesters are in the Impala waiting for Ruby. She walks out of the room and gets into the car noticing Sam holding a child's drawing in his hands.

"Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died." Dean explained gesturing to the picture that Sam was holding.

Ruby leaned over taking a closer look at the picture, "There are cases—going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies."

"Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow? I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns, so if you got a better lead, please." Dean remarked glancing at both Sam and Ruby.

"Looks like we have another house to find."

"Only problem is there's like a thousand yellow two-stories in this county alone."

"See that church? I bet there's not a thousand of those around." Sam remarked pointing to the church in the picture.

"Oh college boy thinks he's so smart." Dean smirked as he drove off through town in search of the church.

"You know, um, what you said about Mom. You never told me that before." Sam looked over at Dean as he bit his lip.

"It's no big deal." He said and then groaned lightly, "Oh God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?"

A little while later, they approach a white church comparing it to the picture that Lucas drew. Just like in the picture, there's a yellow house beside it with a wooden fence nearby the house. The trio head over to the yellow house and knocked on the door. An old woman named Mrs. Sweeney answered. After asking her about the boy in the blue cap with the red bicycle, she revealed that the boy was her son Peter who had been missing for thirty-five years now. Sam points out the toy soldiers that are on a table. Mrs. Sweeney explained that Peter was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school, but he never showed up. He just disappeared. It's Dean who picks up a picture from a mirror. It's of two boys. One is clearly Peter as he is by a red bicycle. Dean turns the picture over and reads the back of it. Peter Sweeney and Bill Carlton, Nineteen Seventy. The boys and Ruby then leave the Sweeney home. The three of them come to the conclusion that Bill is hiding something, the people he loves keep dying because of the water, and that it is possible that they are dealing with the vengeful spirit of Peter Sweeney. The Impala approaches the Carlton house and the three of them get out.

"Mr. Carlton?" Sam calls out as they looked around.

The sound of an engine roaring catches their attention. They head around the house only to find Bill Carlton in his boat heading out onto the lake. The three of them run out to the end of the dock calling out for him to turn around, but it's too late. The water rises up and flips the boat over. Bill Carlton and his boat vanish. A short while later, Ruby is giving her statement down at the station as a witness while Sam and Dean walk in with the Sheriff. Andrea and Lucas are already there. She and her father talk about Bill Carlton along with the lake. Then it happens. The Sheriff tells Andrea it would be better for her to go on home with Lucas. The little boy looks up and whines looking stricken. He jumps up and grabs Dean's arm.

"Lucas, it's okay. It's okay. Hey, Lucas, it's okay. It's okay." Dean tried to calm the young boy down and watched as Andrea pulled him away from Dean.

As his mother led him out the door, Lucas' gaze remained on Dean. The Winchesters follow the Sheriff into his office. It doesn't take long for the Sheriff to reveal that he called the Federal Wildlife Service and that they had never heard of the boys. He then gives them an ultimatum. Either he arrests them for impersonating government officials, holding them as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance or they get the hell out of town never coming back. The Winchesters chose option number two and made their way back to the motel. Ruby returned to find them packing up the Impala and huffed.

"What, Ruby? It's not like we have a choice." Dean said as he loaded up the trunk.

The blonde glanced around for a moment before looking at him, "Actually, you do. The Sheriff said you two had to leave town. He doesn't know I'm connected to you guys. I can just stay here and finish the job."

"And let your father gank us for leaving you here on a case alone? No thank you. Get your ass in the car, Ruby."

Ruby narrowed her eyes and stalked back into the motel room, "Bite me, Dean. I'm not going anywhere."

She definitely sympathized with the Barr kid a bit too much. Ruby herself had only been a toddler when her mother passed on. She remembered the living room being messy. The blonde had been half asleep when her father strapped her into her car seat in his old Chevelle. It was her maternal grandmother's scream that woke her up. Little Ruby Singer had no idea what was going on at the time. She didn't understand why her grandmother was so upset or why her daddy was leaving without her. Ruby didn't see her father for at least a year after that though he did send her a birthday gift for her fifth birthday. It was on her sixth birthday that she was finally reunited with her father and he brought her back home. Being a hunter was something that he had never wanted her to be. He gave her the most normal childhood that he could. Still, it didn't stop her from telling him that she wanted to be a hunter when she was sixteen years old. Naturally, Bobby forbid it and that was the end of that. Until she ran away and ended up running into the Winchesters. She would eventually reunite with with her father and after a long talk, Bobby reluctantly agreed to let her hunt as long as she wasn't hunting alone.

* * *

Dean and Sam were sitting in the Impala waiting for the traffic light to turn green. They had let Ruby stay behind much to Dean's displeasure. There's a sign that says the I-43 North to Milwaukee is to the left. The light finally turns green, but the Impala doesn't move.

"Green."

"Huh?"

"Light's green." Sam responds and watches as Dean turns the Impala to the right, "Uh, the interstate's the other way."

"I know."

The boys are in the Impala heading back into town. There is a somewhat comfortable silence between them until Sam speaks up.

"But Dean, this job, I think it's over." He paused, "If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got it's revenge, it should be at rest. Case closed."

"Alright, so what if we take off and this thing isn't done? What if we missed something and more people get hurt? What if Ruby gets hurt or worse, Sam?"

"But why would you think that?"

"Because Lucas was really scared. I just don't want to leave this town until I know the kid is okay and that Ruby's safe."

The boys drive over to the Devins/Barr house and get out of the car only to find Ruby approaching the home. She gives them a look, but lets Dean ring the doorbell. The door suddenly swings open revealing Lucas looking desperately afraid. The three of them follow him inside and run up the stairs after him. The kid stops in front of a door and pounds on it. Dean pushes Lucas over toward Sam and Ruby before kicking the door in. They ran in toward the tub while Ruby held Lucas back keeping his view blocked. The Winchesters stick their arms into the tub and pull Andrea out. She gasps for air only to be pulled back under. They fight to pull her back until they finally get her pulled out. It is then that Ruby kicks the boys out sending them downstairs with Lucas while she hands Andrea a towel. Dawn is breaking by the time Andrea is downstairs sitting comfortably with dry clothes. Dean is looking through notebooks that are on the bookshelves.

Andrea began to cry, "It doesn't make any sense. I'm going crazy!"

"No, you're not. Tell us what happened. Everything." Sam responded as comfortingly as he could.

She thought back to what had just happened a little while ago, "I heard..I thought I heard..there was this voice. It..it said 'Come play with me'."

It was then that Dean found a scrapbook and pulled it out. He flipped through it only to stop when he found a picture of Explorer Troop 37, an old group photo of a boy scout troop. He showed the picture to Andrea and she points to one boy claiming that he was her father and that he must of been twelve in the picture. She then pointed to another picture of the young Sheriff and he was beside Peter Sweeney. Dean looks at Sam as they both realize that Christopher Barr's connection was to the Sheriff and not to Bill Carlton as they had once assumed. It was then that Dean noticed Lucas was looking outside.

"Lucas, what is it?" Dean asked only to see the kid walk outside.

The group followed him until he stopped and looked at the ground before looking up at Dean. He tells Andrea to get back to the house with Lucas and stay there. She does as he said and Ruby goes with her. The boys then fetch shovels from the Impala and dig into the dirt until Dean's shovel clanks against something. They dropped the shovels and dug with their hands until they pulled out a red bicycle.

"Peter's bike." Sam remarked looking down at it.

"Who are you?" The Sheriff asked as he approached with his gun aiming at them.

Seeing that, Andrea told Lucas to go up to his room and lock the door. She watched him run off and then went outside. Ruby swore under her breath and followed her out to where the three men were standing. The guys are all arguing despite the girls showing up.

"Don't listen to them. They're liars and they're dangerous." The sheriff stated looking at his daughter.

Andrea frowned at her father, "Something tried to drown me. Chris died on that lake. Dad, look at me." She pauses as he looks at her, "Tell me..Tell me you didn't kill anyone."

He looks away and she gasps.

"Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to. But we held him under too long and he drowned. We let the body go, and it sank." The sheriff finally confessed as Dean looked at Sam, "Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake. But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational."

Dean then tells Andrea and her father that they needed to get them all far away from the lake right now. It was then that Andrea gasped as she spotted Lucas walking toward the lake. Her father called out his name and they all ran toward the lake. Lucas is leaning over the side of the dock reaching for a toy soldier that is floating in the water as his mother calls out for him to say where he is at the moment. Just then a hand reaches up pulling Lucas into the water. By then, they had reached the lake. The sheriff stops and is horrified to see Peter's head is visible. He recognizes him instantly. The Winchesters pulled off their jackets and ran down the dock before they dove right into the water. Andrea gasped again and pulled off her own jacket preparing to dive in as well.

"No, Andrea, stay where you are. We'll get him." Sam assured her before going back under to look for Lucas.

Panic was evident upon Andrea's face as she looked out at the water, "No! Lucas!"

Ruby approached Andrea pulling her back a bit from the water, "It's going to be okay. They'll find him."

Andrea just nodded before looking at the blonde, "How do you know? Do you trust them?"

She nodded looking at her reassuringly, "I know because they have never let me down before. I trust them with my life."

As the boys continue to look for Lucas, his grandfather takes off his jacket and wades into the water.

Andrea's eyes widen as she looks over at her father, "Daddy! No!"

"Peter. Lucas—he's, he's just a little boy. Please, it's not his fault, it's mine. Please take me." Jake, the sheriff, pleaded with the spirit.

The Winchesters came up for air just then and Dean calls out to Jake. Peter surfaces just then looking at Jake.

"Just let it be over!" Jake exclaimed only to be dragged under the water.

Another gasp is heard from Andrea as she watches the scene, "Daddy! Daddy! No!"

The boys dive down again to look for Lucas. Sam pops back up a few moments later shaking his head. Andrea mouths the word 'No', but then Dean bursts out of the water with Lucas in his arms who isn't moving.

* * *

"Look, we're not going to save everybody." Sam said as the three of them loaded up the Impala.

"I know." Dean sighed.

Andrea approached the car just then with Lucas beside her, "Sam, Dean, Ruby."

"Hey." He smiled as he turned to face them.

Andrea smiled, "We're glad we caught you. We just, um, we made you lunch for the road." She gestured toward Lucas who was carrying a tray of sandwiches, "Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself."

"Can I give it to them now?" Lucas asked looking up at his mom expectantly.

She nodded and kissed his head softly, "Of course."

"Come on, Lucas. Let's load this into the car." Dean remarked as Sam walked over to Andrea.

"How are you holding up?" He asked.

Andrea sighed, "It's just going to take a long time to sort through everything, you know?"

"Andrea, I'm sorry." Sam frowned at her.

She shook her head, "You saved my son. I can't ask for anything more than that. Dad loved me. He loved Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold on to that."

Dean puts the sandwiches in the car and then crouched by Lucas.

"All right, if you're gonna be talking now, this is a very important phrase, so I want you to repeat it one more time." Dean looked at Lucas expectantly.

"Zeppelin rules!" Lucas smiled as the phrase earned a eye roll from Ruby who couldn't help smiling herself.

"That's right. Up high." He held his hand up and smiled as a grinning Lucas high fived him, "You take care of your mom, okay?"

"Alright." Lucas nodded and then stepped back.

Andrea stepped forward at that moment and kissed Dean, "Thank you."

Ruby shook her head climbing into the car. Dean thought for a moment before scratching his head and moved to get into the car as well.

"Sam, move your ass. We're going to run out of daylight before we hit the road." Dean started the car as Sam got in and the three of them smiled at the waving mother and son as they drove off.

The blonde bit her lip in thought before sighing softly, "Dean, about yesterday.."

"It's alright, Ruby. It's no big deal. You wanted to finish the case. Believe me, I get it." He assured her and turned up the radio a bit as Zeppelin blasted through the speakers.


	4. Phantom Traveler

Title: Calls Me Home

Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ruby Singer, Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and a whole ton of others.

Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to Eric Kripke & Co. The title belongs to the song "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

After Wisconsin, the Winchesters and Ruby worked a simple salt & burn case. It was about a week later when the Impala pulled up to the Singer Salvage Yard on the outskirts of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Ruby knew that the Winchesters were determined to find their father and didn't want to do anything to hinder them from doing just that. Still, she wasn't about to miss out on one of her family traditions. Every year since she was six, she always helped her father cook and then they would sit down to have Thanksgiving dinner. Hell, Dean had even joined them last year. As much as she wanted the boys to join them this year, Ruby knew she couldn't force them. She was just grateful that they had agreed to drop her off. Hopping out of the car, Ruby smiled taking in the scent of freshly cut grass, motor oil, and the faint hint of deep fried turkey. Yeah, she was definitely home alright.

The blonde knelt down smiling brightly as a dog came barreling toward her, "Hey Rumsfeld. Good to see you, buddy."

As his daughter pet the family dog, Bobby walked out of the house chuckling softly, "Well I'll be damned. Almost didn't think you were going to make it, sweetheart."

Ruby stood up just then wiping her hands on her jeans before running over to her father squealing softly as she hugged him, "Daddy! Of course I made it. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

The Winchesters stood almost awkwardly as they watched the father and daughter embrace. They shared a look and Dean shrugged his shoulders earning an almost bitch face like look from Sam. He knew how much Sam wanted to find their father so that they could find Jessica's killer. He felt for the kid. He really did. They bickered a bit in hushed whispers before finally agreeing to stay for dinner and then hit the road the next day. Hearing the sound of a car door slam, Ruby turned around thinking the Winchesters were leaving without saying goodbye. She practically lit up though when she saw them walking toward her and her dad carrying their bags. Seeing that look upon her face was worth it. Not that Dean would ever admit that. The blonde headed inside putting her things in her room before washing up and then headed down to the kitchen to cook. It was only a little while later when Bobby brought the turkey in and set it down on the table. He walked into the kitchen only to see Ruby smack Dean's hand as he eyed the pies that were cooling on the counter. He never did understand those two. While Ruby had an older sister and little brother type of relationship with Sam, Bobby never could quite figure out what to call her relationship with Dean. It was different. That's for sure.

* * *

The boys headed out the next day just as they had agreed on, but Ruby chose to spend a bit more time with her father. She caught up with the boys that weekend though and got a motel room right next to theirs. It was still dark out when Sam walked into the room he was sharing with Dean carrying two coffees and a bag of donuts. Dean was sprawled out on his stomach in bed wearing just his black boxer briefs and a dark blue t shirt. Hearing the door open, his hand had slid under his pillow to grasp the large hunting knife that laid there. He turned his head and squinted only to relax when he saw that it was just Sam.

"Morning, sunshine." Sam greeted as he walked past Dean's bed only to sit down on his own.

"What time is it?"

"Five forty five."

"In the morning?" Dean asked a bit surprised as he sat up. "Did you even get any sleep?"

"Yep." He handed a coffee to Dean, "Yeah, I grabbed a couple of hours."

"Liar. I was up at three and you were watching George Foreman infomercials." Dean sipped his coffee shooting a look at Sam. "When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

"I don't know, a little while, I guess. It's not a big deal." He shrugged as he sipped his own coffee.

"Yeah it is."

"Look, I appreciate your concern."

"Oh, I'm not concerned about you. It's your job to keep my ass alive, so I need you sharp." Dean cut off Sam and then watched him shrug. "Seriously, are you still having nightmares about Jess?"

"Yeah, but it's not just her. It's everything. I just forgot, you know? This job, man, it just gets to you." Sam admitted as he munched on a doughnut.

"You can't let it. You can't bring it home like that."

"So, what? All this...it never keeps you up at night?" He looked over at Dean skeptically and watched him shake his head. "Never? You're never afraid?"

"No. Not really." Dean watches Sam take the knife out from under his pillow holding it up and he snatches it back, "That's not fear. That's precaution."

"Alright, whatever. I'm too tired to argue."

It was just then that Dean's phone rang. The person on the other end was Jerry Panowski, a guy that Dean and John had helped a couple years back with a poltergeist in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Ruby had been working a different case with her own father at that time. Naturally, Dean's first thought was that the poltergeist had come back, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Jerry wanted to talk about his current problem in person so Dean agreed. Dean got ready while Sam loaded up the car and then Sam knocked on Ruby's door. The blonde grumbled something and threw her shoe at the door. Shaking his head, Sam chuckled lightly and used the spare key to get in.

"Ruby, come on, you gotta get up. We have a case." Sam spoke softly as he entered the motel room cautiously.

The blonde turned pulling the covers over her groaning softly, "Go away. It's too damn early."

"You can sleep in the car." When she said nothing in response to his suggestion, Sam sighed, "You can sleep in the car and I'll buy you coffee along with whatever else you want for breakfast."

Ruby sat up just then letting the blanket slip off of her and stretched a bit yawning, "Fine. Give me ten minutes and I'll be out in the car."

True to her word, Ruby was in the car in ten minutes ready to go. Along the way, they stopped and got her coffee as well as a bagel, her request. It wasn't long after that when they arrived at the Hangar in Pennsylvania where Jerry worked. He met the trio at the door and after introductions were given, he led the trio through the hangar. Sam was surprised when he heard Jerry say that John was proud of him and that John spoke of him all the time. Then he mentioned that he had something he wanted them to hear. They followed him into his office and sat down ready to listen to whatever it was he wanted them to hear.

Jerry sat down at his desk and set a CD up to be played, "I listened to this and, well, it sounded like it was up your alley. Normally I wouldn't have access to this. It's the cockpit voice recorder for United Britannia flight 2485. It was one of ours."

**Mayday! Mayday! Repeat! 2485—immediate instruction...may be experiencing some mechanical failure... **A loud whooshing sound could be heard and the boys glanced at each other before looking at Jerry.

He stopped the CD and looked at the trio sitting in front of him, "Took off from here, crashed about two hundred miles south. Now, they're saying mechanical failure. Cabin depressurized somehow. Nobody knows why. Over a hundred people on board. Only seven got out alive. Pilot was one. His name is Chuck Lambert. He's a good friend of mine. Chuck is, uh...well, he's pretty broken up about it. Like it was his fault."

"You don't think it was?" Sam asked glancing over at the older man.

Jerry shook his head, "No, I don't."

"Jerry, we're going to need passenger manifests, a list of survivors." Sam began listing off things they need which Jerry nodded his head in agreement.

"And, uh, any way we can take a look at the wreckage?" Dean inquired looking over at Jerry curiously.

He looked at Dean and shook his head, "The other stuff is no problem. But the wreckage...guys, the NTSB has it locked down in an evidence warehouse. No way I've got that kind of clearance."

"No problem." He remarked with a slight frown after pondering it for a moment.

* * *

Sam and Ruby were leaning against the Impala waiting for Dean as he was inside the Copy Jack store. He finally walked out and Sam rolled his eyes.

"You've been in there forever."

"You can't rush perfection." Dean grinned holding up three IDs.

Ruby took a closer look at them and raised her eyebrow, "Homeland Security?"

"That's pretty illegal, even for us." Sam remarked taking one of the IDs.

"Yeah, well, it's something new. You know? People haven't seen it a thousand times." He remarked getting in the car with them, "Alright, so what do you got?"

"Well, there's definitely EVP on the cockpit voice recorder." Sam made sure to point out.

"Yeah?"

Ruby nodded and played the tape, "Listen."

**No Survivors!**

"No Survivors? What's that supposed to mean? There were seven survivors." Dean pointed out with a look of confusion upon his face.

"Got me." Sam shrugged his shoulders.

"So, what are we thinking? A haunted flight?" He glanced at both Sam and Ruby.

"There's a long history of spirits and death omens on planes and ships, like phantom travelers." Sam explained.

"Mmhmm."

Ruby nodded and then remembered something, "Or remember flight 401?"

"Right. The one that crashed, the airline salvaged some of its parts, put it in other planes, then the spirit of the pilot and copilot haunted those flights." Dean nodded recalling the facts about that particular flight.

"Maybe we got a similar deal."

"Alright, so, survivors. Which one do you want to talk to first?"

"Third on the list: Max Jaffey."

"Why him?"

"Well, for one, he's from around here. And two, if anyone saw anything weird, he did."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Well, I spoke to his mother and she told me where to find him."

It was only a few minutes later that the Impala pulled up to the Riverfront Psychiatric Hospital. They met up with Max who was walking around with a cane. They learned that he had seen a guy with black eyes open the emergency exit. He also revealed that the guy had been sitting right in front of him on the plane. As the boys headed back to the Impala, they realized that Ruby was gone. The passenger manifest showed that George Phelps was sitting in seat 20C which was right in front of Max Jaffey. When the boys arrived at the Phelps house, they weren't surprised at all to find Ruby walking out of the home.

"Ruby, what the hell? You can't just take off and interview someone without telling us." Dean snapped glaring at the blonde that was approaching them.

Her bright blue eyes widened slightly before she rolled them feeling a bit annoyed, "I know that, but Mrs. Phelps is a widow. I just didn't three people showing up to ask her questions was the right way to approach this."

"Damn right you didn't think.." Dean started before being cut off by Sam.

"What Dean is trying to say is that we were just worried when you suddenly weren't there. Next time, just voice your concerns and we'll figure out together what the best approach should be." Sam intervened speaking as calmly as he could.

Ruby nodded in agreement and the three of them got back into the Impala. She relayed the information she had learned which turned out to not be much at all. The wife had never noticed anything out of the ordinary in regards to her late husband.

"I mean it goes without saying. It just doesn't make sense." Sam remarked with a slight shrug.

"A middle-aged dentist with an ulcer is not exactly evil personified. You know what we need to do is get inside that NTSB warehouse, check out the wreckage." Dean pointed out with a nod of his head.

Ruby sat up a bit straighter and nodded in agreement, "Okay, but if we're going to go that route, we better look the part."

An hour later, the boys exit a store called 'MORT'S for Style'. They are both dressed nicely in crisp black suits with white dress shirts, black ties, and shiny black dress shoes. Sam adjusted his collar while Dean tugged at his own collar annoyingly.

"Man, I look like one of the Blues Brothers." Dean grimaced as they walked down the sidewalk.

"No, you don't. You look more like a...seventh grader at his first dance." Sam responded failing to hold back the laughter that threatened to spill out.

"I hate this thing." He shot Sam a look before looking down at himself.

"Hey, you want into that warehouse or not?" Sam asked as they approached the Impala.

He never did get an answer from Dean as his brother was too distracted by the blonde that was headed their way. Her long golden locks were pinned into a simple updo to go with her equally simple outfit. A black skirt that came to mid thigh paired with a white dress shirt and a black suit jacket that she had buttoned closed. To add a few finishing touches, Ruby had slipped into a pair of black pumps while adorning herself with simple pearl earrings and a matching single string pearl necklace. It wasn't as if she needed them, but she also slid on a pair of thin black rimmed glasses.

Ruby smirked at Dean's reaction and yanked on his tie playfully, "Down boy."

* * *

The three of them arrived at the warehouse and walked in showing their badges to the security guard that was on duty. He nodded his head letting them and once the doors shut behind them, the trio let out a collective sigh of relief. As they walk among the plane wreckage, Dean pulled out an EMF meter and placed ear buds in his ears.

"What is that?" Sam asked eyeing his brother curiously.

"It's an EMF meter. Reads electromagnetic frequencies." Dean explained as he turned it on.

"Yeah, I know what an EMF meter is, but why does that one look like a busted up Walkman?" He chuckled slightly.

"Cause that's what I made it out of. It's homemade." Dean grinned proud of his creation.

"Yeah, I can see that." Sam remarked causing Dean's grin to fade.

Ruby shook her head and patted Dean's shoulder gently, "Sam, don't hate. It's actually pretty impressive that he made his own EMF meter."

Before Sam could respond, the EMF meter gets an audible spike as Dean passes it over a piece of wreckage that had yellow dust on it.

"Check out the emergency door handle." Dean gestured to it before scratching at the yellow dust, "What is this stuff?"

"One way to find out." Sam said pulling out a knife and scraped some of the yellow dust into a baggie.

At the same time, two real Homeland Security agents approached the security guard's desk showing their badges. The guard was skeptical at first wondering why one team of them wasn't enough and naturally the agents were confused. He then pointed out that three agents had just gone inside to see the wreckage not five minutes ago. Of course Sam, Dean, and Ruby had managed to slip out back right before the agents along with several security guards came bursting in with their guns drawn. The three of them peered around the corner of the building before walking around it casually. Then the alarm went off and the three of them took off running only to reach the gated exit. Dean slid his suit jacket off and draped it over the top of the barbed wire fence. Sam hopped over the fence first and then Dean helped up the fence. She toppled over though only to land in Sam's arms. The blonde shot him a grateful look as he set her down on her feet. Dean landed on their side on his own feet just then and grabbed his jacket.

"Well, these monkey suits do come in handy." He chuckled before the three of them took off running to the car.

It was not too long later that they were back in Jerry's office. The older man was looking through a microscope at the yellow substance they had found in the wreckage. He concluded that the stuff had been covered in sulfur. Sam asked if he was sure and Jerry insisted he take a look for himself. Just then, banging and a guy yelling could be heard from outside. Jerry excused himself to go take care of it. The three of them discuss the findings and realize that not many things leave behind a sulfuric residue so that narrowed it down to a demonic possession. They returned to the motel and went into full on research mode. There were pictures and articles taped to the walls as well as strewn across the beds. Dean was sitting on one bed while looking at something on another. Sam was sitting at the table typing away on his laptop while Ruby was looking at an article that was taped to the wall.

"So, every religion in every world culture has the concept of demons and demonic possession, right? I mean Christian, Native American, Hindu, you name it." Sam spoke up glancing at them.

"Yeah, but none of them describe anything like this." Dean pointed out.

"Well, that's not exactly true. You see according to Japanese beliefs, certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural and man-made. One causes earthquakes, another causes disease." He explained with a shrug as Dean stood up.

Ruby glanced over at Sam raising her eyebrow, "And this one causes plane crashes?"

"Yeah. You know, who knows how many planes it's brought down before this one?" Sam questioned as Dean snorted and turned away, "What?"

"I don't know, man. This isn't our normal gig. I mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. This is big. And I wish Dad was here." Dean admitted earning a nod in agreement from Sam.

"Yeah. Me too."

As if on cue, Dean's cell phone rang, but it was Jerry calling. He informed Dean that his friend Chuck Lambert, the pilot of the plane that had crashed, had died. Chuck and his buddy had gone up in a small twin plane about an hour ago. The plane had gone down. Dean extended his condolences and learned of the location of the crash. They headed out there and acquired a sample from the wreckage before driving over to Jerry's office. He examined the sample using his microscope and came to the same conclusion. It was sulfur.

"Well, that's great. All right, that's two plane crashes involving Chuck Lambert. This demon sounds like it was after him." Dean assumed with a nod.

"With all due respect to Chuck, if that's the case, that would be the good news."

"And what's the bad news?"

"Chuck's plane went down exactly forty minutes into flight. And get this, so did flight 2485."

Jerry appeared confused, "Forty minutes? What does that mean?"

Ruby nodded as she chose to explain, "It's biblical numerology. You know, Noah's ark, it rained for forty days. The number means death."

Sam then reveals that he had looked further and there had been six other plane crashes over the last decade that all went down exactly forty minutes into the flight. It was also pointed out that there had been no survivors in any of those crashes which matched what the voice on the EVP recording had said. No survivors.

"It's going after all of the survivors. It's trying to finish the job." Dean concluded after thinking it all through for a moment.

* * *

Night had fallen by the time they had left Jerry's office. Sam and Ruby went through the list of survivors calling them in an effort to find out which ones were flying again anytime soon while Dean drove.

"Really? Well, thank you for taking our survey, And if you do plan to fly, please don't forget your friends at United Britannia Airlines. Thanks." Sam hung up and glanced at the two, "Alright, that takes care of Blaine Sanderson and Dennis Holloway. They aren't flying anytime soon."

Ruby nodded crossing their names off the list, "So our only wildcard is the flight attendant Amanda Walker."

"Right. Her sister Karen said her flight leaves Indianapolis at Eight PM. It's her first night back on the job." He recalled.

"Well, that sounds just like our luck."

"Dean, this is a five-hour drive, man, even with you behind the wheel." He spoke up not sounding too optimistic.

"Call Amanda's cell phone again. See if we can't head her off at the pass." Dean instructed pressing down on the gas pedal a little more increasing the speed of the Impala just a bit.

Ruby sighed at that, "I've already left her three voice messages. She must have her cell phone turned off."

"God, we're never going to make it." Sam sighed glancing out the window.

"We'll make it."

The Impala swung into a parking space after it reached the airport. They climbed out of the car and it was Sam that pointed out to Dean that they were at an airport. Dean grumbled and popped open the trunk putting all of his weapons in there. He slammed the trunk shut and walked with them toward the airport.

"Man, I feel naked now." He frowned as they rushed into the airport.

According to the departure board, the flight didn't board for another thirty minutes. Dean realized they still had some cards to play and led them in a search for a phone. They located a courtesy phone and Dean picked it up asking to be put through to flight attendant Amanda Walker at Gate 13. It worked and he tried to feed her a story about her sister being in the hospital after a car accident. Unfortunately for him, Amanda saw through it as she had just gotten off the phone with her sister who was at home. She asked if he was a friend of some guy named Vince and Dean agreed just going with it in hopes it would keep her off the plane. It didn't work and she hung up instead.

"Alright, it's time for Plan B. We're getting on that plane." Sam decided with a determined look in his eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, now just hold on a second." Dean protested all wide eyed as he held his hands up in front of him.

Ruby sighed and looked at Dean, "Dean, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board, and if we're right, that plane is gonna crash."

"I know."

"Okay. So we're getting on the plane, we need to find that demon and exorcise it. I'll get the tickets. You two get whatever you can out of the trunk. Whatever that will make it through the security. Meet me back here in five minutes." Sam instructed before noticing the anxious look upon Dean's face, "You okay?"

"No, not really."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, I kind of have this problem with, uh..." He trailed off.

"Flying?" Sam suggested finishing his sentence.

"It's never really been an issue until now."

"You're joking, right?"

"Do I look like I'm joking? Why do you think I drive everywhere, Sam?"

"Alright, I'll go by myself or with Ruby." Sam offered.

"What?"

"I'll do this one on my own or with Ruby." He reiterated for his brother's benefit.

"What are you? Nuts? You said it yourself. The plane's going to crash."

"Dean, we can do this together, I can do it on my own, or I can go up there with Ruby. I'm not seeing any other options here."

"Come on! Really? Man..." Dean trailed off with a grimace as Sam walked off to get their tickets.

* * *

Ruby sat between Sam and Dean with the older Winchester getting the aisle seat while the younger Winchester got the window seat. Dean was sitting in his seat anxiously reading the safety card which wasn't helping matters at all.

"Just try to relax." Sam spoke up in an effort to calm his brother.

"Just try to shut up." Dean retorted shooting him a slight glare.

The plane took off after a few more moments with Dean jumping at every rumble and sound. A smirk was plastered upon Sam's face at his brother's reactions. Dean's knuckles were pale white as he gripped the arm rests tightly. Once the plane was in the air, he relaxed a little and even began to hum a familiar heavy metal tune. Sam just chuckled and shook his head.

Ruby, though, raised her eyebrow at him, "Is that Metallica you're humming?"

"What? It relaxes me when I'm nervous." Dean insisted defensively and then glanced around.

She pried his hand off the arm rest and squeezed it lightly, "You've got to relax, Dean. This thing is attracted to the emotionally vulnerable. It'll possess the ones with an obvious chink in their armor."

"This plane is going to crash, Ruby." He glared at her appearing almost panicked.

She squeezed his hand again and looked directly into his eyes, "Not if we can help it. We'll be okay. I promise."

With that said, Dean managed to regain some of his composure and went off to go talk to the flight attendant Amanda Walker. He returned after a few minutes and relayed that the demon was definitely not in her. The three of them knew they had less than forty minutes to locate the demon and then exorcise it. Dean got up again and walked around with his EMF detector. Ruby went toward the back and made small talk with the flight attendant just to make sure Dean hadn't missed anything due to his nervousness. Sam came up behind Dean placing his hand on Dean's shoulder causing the elder Winchester to jump.

"Don't do that!"

"Sorry, man. Get anything?" Sam chuckled slightly and then looked at his brother.

"Not yet. Maybe it's not on the plane."

"You believe that?"

"Well, I will if you will." Dean said as he glanced down to see his EMF meter spike.

Both of the boys then looked up only to see the copilot exiting the bathroom. They watched him walk back toward the cockpit and that's when Dean chose to act.

"Christo."

The copilot turned slowly to face them and his eyes were pure black. He turned back and walked into the cockpit as Dean looked at Sam.

* * *

The boys headed straight for the back of the plane where they met up with Ruby who was still talking to Amanda. Sam closed the curtain behind them and filled in Ruby quietly before they all faced Amanda.

The flight attendant smiled at them as she finished sorting things out, "Oh, hi. Flight's not too bumpy for you, I hope."

"Actually, that's kind of what we need to talk to you about." Dean said as calmly as he could.

The golden haired attendant looked at him almost confused, "Um, okay. What can I do for you?"

"Alright, this is going to sound nuts, but we don't have time for the whole 'the truth is out there' speech." Dean started only to get cut off by Sam.

"Alright, look, we know you were on flight 2485." Sam spoke up looking at her.

Her polite smile disappeared at that, "Who are you?"

"Now, we spoke to some of the other survivors. We know it wasn't mechanical failure that brought down the other plane." Sam informed her.

"We need your help because we need to stop it from happening again. Here. Now." Dean looked at her.

Amanda shook her head and tried to push past Dean, "I'm sorry. I..I'm very busy. I have to go back."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second. I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? But listen to me, uh...The pilot in 2485, Chuck Lambert. He's dead." Dean informed her with an almost sympathetic tone to his voice as he stopped her.

She looked at them in shock, "Wait, what? What, Chuck's dead?"

Ruby sighed pushing past the boys to look at her, "He died in a plane crash. Now, that's two plane crashes in two months. That doesn't strike you as strange?"

The girl just looked at her, "I.."

The blonde hunter tucked her hair behind her ear trying to speak as calmly as she could, "Look, there was something wrong with 2485. Now maybe you sensed it, maybe you didn't. But there's something wrong with this flight, too."

"Amanda, you have to believe us." Dean spoke up looking at her.

The flight attendant looked at them as if she were processing everything they were saying, "On...on 2485, there was this man. He...had these eyes."

"Yes, that's exactly what we're talking about." Sam nodded his head.

She sighed looking at them, "I don't understand. What are you asking me to do?"

They explained that they just wanted her to get the copilot to come back there because they needed to talk to him. She hesitated after saying she could lose her job though they convinced her that she could potentially lose more than that if she didn't help them. It was only a moment later that she agreed and went off to get the copilot. Sam pulled out the bottle of holy water that he had taken from Dean earlier when Dean had wanted to use it on Amanda and Sam had insisted instead he use the more subtle way of just saying 'Christo'. Dean pulled out their father's journal and handed it to Sam who opened it flipping to the page they needed. The copilot walked in just then and Dean punched him in the face knocking him down. He pinned him to the ground placing duct tape over his mouth.

Amanda looked on shocked and almost disturbed at the sight, "Wait, what are you doing? I thought you were going to talk to him."

"We are going to talk to him." Dean splashed holy water on the copilot's skin which sizzled upon contact with the water.

Her eyes widened at that, "Oh my god! What's wrong with him?"

Ruby shook her head and stepped over to Amanda blocking her view of what the boys were doing, "Look, we need you calm and we need you outside the curtain."

The blonde just looked at her in disbelief, "Well, I don't underst..I don't know.."

She grasped her arms for a moment looking in her eyes, "Don't let anybody in, okay? Can you do that? Can you do that? Amanda?

The flight attendant snapped out of it and nodded her head, "Okay, okay."

Amanda regained her composure and stepped past the curtain making sure it was shut behind her before acting as if nothing were wrong. Ruby moved to help Dean hold down the demon possessed copilot as Sam began reading aloud the first part of the two part exorcism. The demon broke free knocking them both aside and hitting Sam as well. Dean and Ruby managed to subdue him again giving Sam a chance to continue reading. The demon knocks the two off of him again and removes the duct tape from his mouth in the process.

"I know what happened to your girlfriend! She must have died screaming! Even now, she's burning!" It hissed at Sam as it grabbed him by the collar.

Dean recovered and hit the demon knocking him away from Sam who simply sat there stunned. Ruby helped him pin the copilot down again and he looked over at his brother who was just sitting there in a daze. He called out his name and Sam snapped out of it to finish reading the first part of the exorcism. He then set the journal down moving to help them hold the copilot in place. In a last act of rebellion in the copilot's body, the demon kicked the journal away from them sending it past the curtain and up the aisle before the demon disappeared into one of the plane's vents leaving the copilot unconscious on the floor.

"Where'd it go?" Sam asked as he glanced around while the three of them got to their feet.

"It's in the plane. Hurry up. We've got to finish it." Dean responded only to watch Sam disappear past the curtain in search of the journal.

Just then, the plane suddenly dipped and heaved violently. The movement sending Dean backward splaying him up against the exit door causing him to scream. Sam fell to the floor and looked around before spotting the journal. He crawled toward it while Ruby struggled to stay upright in the back as she looked toward Dean. Suddenly the plane jerked violently again and she went flying in his direction. Dean snapped out of it and caught her pulling her up against him before she could crash into the wall face first. Hazel green eyes met bright blue and as the plane shook more, their lips met. The kiss was gentle at first, but grew passionate rather quickly. Oblivious to what was happening in the back, Sam finally reached the journal and grabbed it flipping it to the right page. He took a breath and then recited the second part of the exorcism. The plane continued to jerk violently and then suddenly it went still as Sam finished the exorcism. He sighed in relief and stood up dusting himself off. Dean and Ruby broke apart catching their breaths before looking at each other. Neither said a word as they headed through the curtain to find Sam. The plane landed back at the airport it had departed from not too long after that.

* * *

In the airport, there are agents everywhere. Paramedics, FAA, FBI, you name it. The copilot was seated in a wheelchair with a blanket wrapped around him telling an FAA agent that he didn't know what happened as he had been walking through the airport and then it all went blank. He didn't even remember getting on the plane. Amanda was standing a few feet away being questioned by an FBI agent. As she finished giving the agent her statement, she glanced over at the three hunters who were standing across the way and mouthed 'thank you' to them. They nodded and headed for the exit.

"You okay?" Dean asked glancing at Sam as the three of them walked out of the airport heading over toward the Impala.

"Dean, it knew about Jessica."

"Sam, these things, they...they read minds. They lie. Alright? That's all it was." He assured his younger brother as they reached the car.

"Yeah." He nodded and shot a grateful smile at Ruby who had just placed her hand on his back rubbing it lightly.

They stayed at the motel that night and then returned to the airport the next day where they met up with Jerry again. He assured them that no one knew what they did on the plane, but he did. He said a lot of people could of been killed. He then shook their hands and smiled stating their dad would be really proud of them. They began to head off back to the Impala when Dean stopped and looked over at Jerry.

"You know, Jerry, I meant to ask you, how did you get my cellphone number anyway? I've only had it for six months." Dean remarked looking over at the older man curiously.

Jerry nodded and chuckled slightly, "Your dad gave it to me."

"What?" Sam looked over at him in surprise.

"When did you talk to him?"

He shrugged looking at them a bit sheepishly, "I mean, I didn't exactly talk to him, but I called his number. His voice message said to give you a call. Thanks again, guys."

"This doesn't make any sense, man. I've called Dad's number like fifty times. It's been out of service." Sam spoke up as they leaned against the Impala a little while later on the side of the airport access road.

Dean dialed an all too familiar phone number and put his phone on speaker so that Sam along with Ruby could hear. The phone rang a few times before going straight to voice mail. **This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean. 785-555-0179. He can help. **Hearing that, Sam grew upset and got into the car. Dean and Ruby shared a look before getting into the car as well. A moment later, the Impala drove off putting the airport far behind them.


	5. Bloody Mary

Title: Calls Me Home

Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ruby Singer, Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and a whole ton of others.

Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to Eric Kripke & Co. The title belongs to the song "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

Author's Note: I would just like to say that the timeline is so screwed up at some points. It's almost mind boggling.

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

_It is in the wee hours of November 2nd, 2005. The scene is tinted blue. Sam had just returned home from going on the hunt with Dean and Ruby. As he laid in bed with his eyes closed, he could hear the shower running. Jess is pinned to the ceiling. Blood drips down onto Sam's forehead disturbing the peaceful look upon his face. His hazel green eyes open to see her staring down at him._

_"Why, Sam? Why, Sam?"_

_"No!" He sits up in a panic only to watch helplessly as Jess bursts into flames._

_"Why, Sam? Why, Sam?"_

"Sam, wake up." Dean reached over shaking his brother's shoulder lightly.

The younger Winchester jumps awake looking startled. He glanced around in confusion taking in his surroundings. He was sitting shotgun in the Impala which was parked in front of a large building.

"I take it I was having a nightmare." He groaned slightly as he let out a yawn while stretching a bit.

"Yeah, another one."

"Hey, at least I got some sleep."

"You know, sooner or later, we're going to have to talk about this."

"Are we here?" Sam asked changing the subject rather quickly.

"Yup. Welcome to Toledo, Ohio." Dean announced clearing his throat a bit.

Sam picked up a newspaper just then with Steven Shoemaker's obituary circled. **The Shoemaker family is sad to announce the sudden death of their beloved husband and father Steven Shoemaker. Steven was 46. **He read it over again and then glanced at Dean.

"So what do you think really happened to this guy?"

"That's what we're going to find out. Let's go." Dean said as they got out of the car and headed into the large building.

It was a hospital and they went straight to room 144 which was the Morgue. There were two desks in the room. The empty one had a nameplate that read Dr. D. Feiklowicz. At the other desk is the Morgue Technician. The morgue tech asked if he could help them and on the fly, Dean made up a story about how he and Sam were students from Ohio State that were supposed to see the Shoemaker body for a paper they were doing. The morgue tech was pretty insistent on having them wait for the Doctor to get back and Dean grew a bit frustrated mumbling to Sam that he was going to hit the guy in the face. Sam took that moment to step forward slipping the guy a few twenties. He proceeded to show them the body of the late Steven Shoemaker.

"Now the newspaper said the daughter had found him. She said his eyes were bleeding." Sam stated as the morgue tech pulled back the sheet covering the body.

"More than that. They were liquefied." The morgue tech told them.

"Any sign of struggle? Maybe someone did it to him." Dean suggested.

"Nope. Besides the daughter, he was all alone." The morgue tech confirmed.

"What's the official cause of death?" Sam asked.

"Ah, Doc's not sure. He's thinking massive stroke, maybe an aneurysm? Something burst up in there, that's for sure." He shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Sam looked at him curiously.

"Intense cerebral bleeding. This guy had more blood in his skull than anyone I've ever seen." He admitted.

"The eyes. What would cause something like that?"

"Capillaries can burst. See a lot of bloodshot eyes with stroke victims." The morgue tech suggested.

"Yeah? You ever see exploding eyeballs?" Dean asked.

"That's a first for me, but hey, I'm not the doctor." He shrugged.

"Hey, think we could take a look at that police report? You know for, uh...our paper." Dean asked raising his eyebrows a bit.

"I'm not really supposed to show you that."

Annoyed, Sam pulled out his wallet again. After getting a copy of the police report, they headed out of the hospital and back to the Impala.

"Might not be one of ours. Might just be some freak medical thing." Sam shrugged as they headed down a flight of stairs.

"How many times in Dad's long and varied career has it actually been a freak medical thing and not some sign of an awful supernatural death?" Dean asked as they walked out toward the Impala.

"Uh, almost never."

"Exactly."

"Alright, let's go talk to the daughter. I'm sure Ruby's already there." Sam remarked as they got into the car and drove off.

* * *

At the Shoemaker home, there is a picture of Steven on a desk. Men are there dressed in black suits while the women were there dressed in black dresses. The boys feel a little under dressed as they make their way through the house and out to the back. There they find Ruby dressed appropriately in a black dress. She was talking to Steven's elder daughter Donna who was with her friends Jill and Charlie. The boys stood close enough to hear the conversation, but far enough so they weren't intruding too much. From what they could tell, Donna's father had shown no symptoms of having a stroke.

"That's because it wasn't a stroke." Lily Shoemaker spoke up turning around to face the two older girls.

"Lily, don't say that." Donna hushed her younger sister shaking her head, "I'm sorry. She's just upset."

"No, it happened because of me." She insisted looking at them.

"Sweetie, it didn't." Donna tried to assure her.

Ruby knelt down carefully so that she was at eye level with the younger girl and looked at her, "Lily, why would you say something like that?"

"Right before he died, I said it." She spoke softly with a frown upon her face.

She nodded and glanced at Donna before looking at Lily again, "You said what?"

"Bloody Mary. three times in the bathroom mirror." She paused, "She took his eyes, that's what she does."

"That's not why Dad died. This isn't your fault." Donna assured her.

Ruby nodded her head and looked at the younger girl reassuringly, "I think your sister's right, Lily. There's no way it could have been Bloody Mary. Your dad didn't say it, did he?"

"No, I don't think so."

Ruby stood up smoothing her dress out and casually glanced over at the Winchesters. They shared a look before the boys disappeared inside. She continued making the rounds trying to learn any other useful information from people who knew Steven. Upstairs, the Winchesters were checking out the bathroom where Steven Shoemaker had died. As far as they knew, the Bloody Mary legend was just that. A legend. Still, the guy had died in front of the mirror and as the legend goes, Bloody Mary scratches her victims eyes out so the boys felt as if it were a lead worth checking into. Unfortunately for them, as they left the bathroom, Donna's friend Charlie approached them. None of Dean's on the fly excuses seemed to work with her so Sam admitted that they believed something had happened to Donna's father. Something other than a stroke. Charlie wondered if they were cops, but seemed okay with hearing that they were something like that. Sam reached into his pocket pulling out a scrap of paper along with a pen jotting his phone number down. He handed it to her telling her to call if she or any of her friends notice anything out of the ordinary or if she thinks of anything that could help. After stopping at the motel so Ruby could change, the Winchesters and Ruby headed to the library.

"Alright, say Bloody Mary really is haunting this town. There's going to be some sort of proof...like a local woman who died nasty." Dean said as they entered the library.

"Yeah but a legend this widespread it's hard. I mean, there's like 50 versions of who she actually is. One story says she's a witch, another says she's a mutilated bride, there's a lot more." Sam explained as they walked further into the library heading toward the computers.

"Alright, so what are we supposed to be looking for?"

Ruby chose that moment to speak up, "Every version's got a few things in common. It's always a woman named Mary and she always dies right in front of a mirror. So we've gotta search local newspapers...public records as far back as they go. See if we can find a Mary who fits the bill."

"Well that sounds annoying." Dean frowned.

"No, it won't be so bad as long as we.." Sam trailed off as he noticed the computers said out of order and then chuckled, "I take it back. This will be very annoying."

As the three of them do research, Charlie was driving after leaving the Shoemaker home. She was on the phone with her and Donna's friend Jill. They were talking about the Winchesters and about Donna's father. Jill teased a worried Charlie that maybe Donna's sister Lily was right. That maybe Bloody Mary had killed Donna's father. Then mockingly so, Jill went into her bathroom standing in front of her mirror after sensing Charlie's fear and recited the name three times. Silence was then heard before Jill screamed and Charlie freaked out only to hear Jill's laugh. The girl told Charlie that she was such a freak and that she'd call her tomorrow. Jill hung up and continued getting dressed. She eventually walked back into her bathroom and as she bent over to wash her face, her reflection remained in the mirror. Jill stands back up right and is horrified to see her reflection as if it were another person. She began to panic as blood began to ooze out of her reflection's eyes and then she reached up feeling the blood on her own face. **You did it. You killed that boy. **Jill fell down after seemingly being strangled to death and her reflection just watches her.

* * *

Back at the motel, Sam is having the same nightmare about Jessica again. He startles himself awake and groans as he sits up looking at Dean.

"Why'd you let me sleep?" He frowned.

"Because I'm an awesome brother. What'd you dream about?"

"Lollipops and Candy Canes."

"Yeah, sure." He rolled his eyes.

"Did you find anything?" He asked as he sat up.

"Oh besides a whole new level of frustration? No, we've looked at everything. A few local women, a Laura and a Catherine, committed suicide in front of a mirror and a giant mirror fell on a guy named Dave, but, uh, no Mary." Dean informed him.

"Maybe we just haven't found it yet." Sam sighed falling back onto the bed.

"I've also been searching for strange deaths in the area, you know...eyeball bleeding, that sort of thing. There's nothing. Whatever's happening here, maybe it just ain't Mary." Dean shrugged scratching his head lightly.

"Yeah, maybe. So what's with you and Ruby? You guys have been acting strange since we got off that plane." He sat up again looking over at his brother curiously.

"Oh, uh, nothing. We, just, uh, alright, we kissed, okay? We thought we were going to die. It's no big deal. Things are just a bit awkward now. That's all." He confessed sighing softly.

Before Sam could respond, his phone rang and he answered it. They along with Ruby arrived at the park not too long after and found Charlie sitting on a bench crying. Ruby sat beside her trying to comfort the young girl.

"And they found her on the bathroom floor. And her..her eyes. They were gone." Charlie explained as she wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"I'm sorry." Sam nodded offering his condolences.

"And she said it." She paused not noticing Dean look at Sam, "I heard her say it, but it couldn't be because of that. I'm insane, right?"

"No, you're not insane." Dean assured her.

"Oh god, that makes me feel so much worse." She buried her face in her hands sniffling again.

"Look. We think something's happening here. Something that can't be explained." Sam said looking over at her as she glanced up.

"And we're going to stop it, but we could use your help." Dean remarked softly.

It was a half hour later when Charlie walked into Jill's bedroom shutting the door behind her. She locked it and walked over to the window opening it before stepping aside. Sam enters first and Dean tosses him a duffel bag. He catches it handing it to Charlie who sets it down on Jill's bed while Sam helps Ruby into the room. Dean follows her in as Sam opens the bag looking through it.

"What did you tell Jill's mom?" The taller Winchester asked glancing over at Charlie curiously.

"Just that I needed some time alone with Jill's pictures and things." She watched Sam pull something out of the bag as Dean pulled the curtains shut, "I hate lying to her."

"Trust us, this is for the greater good. Hit the lights." Dean instructed her.

"What are you guys looking for?" She asked as she walked over flicking the switch making the room dark.

"We'll let you know as soon as we find it." Dean remarked and looked at Sam who was holding a digital camera.

"Hey, night vision." He handed the camera to Dean who turned the night vision on and handed it back to him, "Perfect."

"Do I look like Paris Hilton?" Dean asked posing a bit and smirked over his shoulder.

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Focus, boys."

Sam walked away from Dean and opened Jill's closet door filming around the mirror. The first victim hadn't summoned Mary, but the second victim did. Sam didn't understand how she was choosing them. He shut the closet door and headed into the bathroom where Jill had died. He films around the mirror only to stop when he spotted trickles of something running out from behind the mirror.

"Hey." All three of them looked in Sam's direction, "There's a black light in the trunk, right?"

Removing the mirror from the bathroom, Sam placed it face down on Jill's bed and Ruby helped him peel off the brown paper that is on the back of the mirror. Dean tossed the black light to him and he turned it on shining it over the back of the mirror. A hand print along with the words Gary Bryman appear.

"Gary Bryman?" Charlie questioned with a confused look upon her face.

"You know who that is?" Sam asked looking over at her.

"No."

Later that afternoon, Sam walked up to a bench in the park where again Charlie was sitting with Ruby while Dean stood watch over them.

"So, Gary Bryman was an 8-year-old boy. Two years ago he was killed in a hit and run. The car was described as a black Toyota Camry. But nobody got the plates or saw the driver." Sam explained to the three of them.

"Oh my god!" Charlie exclaimed gasping in shock as the realization overcame her.

"What?" Sam looked over at her.

"Jill drove that car." She confirmed with a nod.

"We need to get back to your friend Donna's house." Dean nodded.

In the bathroom of the Shoemaker home, Sam and Dean were hunched over the back of the mirror shining the black light onto it. Just like Jill's mirror, there was a hand print on this mirror except this time the name was Linda Shoemaker. They returned downstairs filling Ruby in and she in turn spoke with Donna. They learned that Linda was Donna's mother who had overdosed on sleeping pills. Donna claimed it was an accident and that's all. She decided then that she wanted them to just leave. Dean tried to get her to listen, but she yelled at them to get out before running upstairs.

"Oh my god. Do you really think her dad could of killed her mom?" Charlie asked in shock.

"Maybe." Sam nodded his head slightly.

"I think I should stick around." She said glancing up the stairs.

"Alright, whatever you do, don't.." Dean trailed off as Charlie intervened.

"Believe me, I won't say it."

* * *

Back on their own, Dean decided to broaden their search to a nationwide search as opposed to a local search. Sam was looking at things posted on a bulletin board while Ruby was looking through some folklore books. Dean shows them a picture of a woman laying by a mirror in a puddle of blood. He printed out another picture and handed it to Sam. It was a picture of a hand print and the letters Tre. Her name was Mary Worthington. An unsolved murder in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The boys drove out to Fort Wayne while Ruby chose to stay behind in Toledo. Mary had been 19 and living by herself. She had won a few local beauty contests and dreamed of getting out of Indiana to become an actress. Then on March 29th, many years ago, someone broke into her apartment murdering her and then cut her eyes out with a knife.

"I think Mary was trying to spell out the name of her killer." The detective confided in the Winchesters.

"You know who it was?" Sam asked.

"Not for sure. But there was a local man, a surgeon, Trevor Sampson." He pulled out a picture of the man, "And I think he cut her up good."

"Now why would he do something like that?" The younger Winchester asked curious of the motive.

"Her diary mentioned a man that she was seeing. She called him by his initial, "T". Well, her last entry, she was gonna tell "T"'s wife about their affair." The detective explained to them.

"Yeah, but how do you know it was Sampson that killed her?" Dean looked at him.

"It's hard to say, but the way her eyes were cut out...it was almost professional."

"But you could never prove it?" Dean raised his eyebrow.

"No. No prints, no witnesses. He was meticulous." He shook his head.

"Is he still alive?" Dean asked.

"Nope." The detective sat down and sighed, "If you ask me, Mary spent her last living moments trying to expose this guy's secret, but she never could."

"Where is she buried?" Sam raised his eyebrow.

"She wasn't. She was cremated." He nodded.

"What about that mirror?" Dean nodded at the one in the picture, "It's not in some evidence lockup somewhere, is it?"

"Ah, no. It was returned to Mary's family a long time ago."

"You have the names of her family by any chance?" Sam asked.

A short time later, they are back on the road driving toward Toledo. Sam called up Mary's brother in hopes of locating the mirror.

"Oh really? Ah that's too bad Mr. Worthington. I would have paid a lot for that mirror. Okay, well maybe next time. Alright, thanks." Sam hung up and sighed.

"So?" Dean glanced at Sam before returning his eyes to the road.

"So that was Mary's brother. The mirror was in the family for years until they sold it a week ago to a store called Estate Antiques. A store in Toledo." He explained running his fingers through his hair.

"So wherever the mirror goes, Mary goes?"

"Her spirit is definitely tied up with it somehow."

"Isn't there an old superstition about how mirrors can capture spirits?"

"Yeah there is. When someone would die in a house, people would cover the mirrors so their spirits wouldn't get trapped."

"So Mary dies in front of a mirror and it draws in her spirit."

"Yeah, but how can she move through like a hundred different mirrors?"

"I don't know, but if the mirror is the source, I saw we find it and smash it."

"Yeah, I don't know, maybe." Sam's cell phone rang just then and he answered it before growing concerned, "Charlie?"

After getting off the phone with Charlie, Sam had called Ruby filling her in and had her go find Charlie. The blonde hunter brought the frightened girl back to the motel where Sam and Dean were covering all of the mirrors. The curtains were drawn shut as well. Charlie sat down on one of the beds drawing her knees up to her chest hiding her face against her knees.

"Hey, hey it's okay. Hey, you can open up your eyes Charlie. It's okay, all right?" Sam assured her as he sat down next to her watching as she looked up. "Now listen. You're gonna stay right here on this bed, and you're not gonna look at glass, or anything else that has a reflection, okay? And as long as you do that, she cannot get you."

"I can't keep that up forever. I'm going to die, aren't I?" Her eyes glistened with tears as she looked at Sam.

"No, no. Not anytime soon." Sam assured her.

"Alright, Charlie. We need to know what happened." Dean said as he sat down on the other bed.

"We were in the bathroom. Donna said it."

Ruby shook her head and sighed looking at the young girl reassuringly, "That's not what we're talking about, sweetie. Something happened, didn't it? In your life...a secret...where someone got hurt. Can you tell us about it?"

"I had this boyfriend. I loved him. But he kind of scared me too, you know? And one night, at his house, we got in this fight. Then I broke up with him, and he got upset, and he said he needed me and he loved me, and he said "Charlie, if you walk out that door right now, I'm gonna kill myself." And you know what I said? I said "Go ahead." And I left. How could I say that? How could I leave him like that? I just...I didn't believe him, you know? I should have." Charlie confessed hiding her face against her knees again as she cried.

* * *

Ruby volunteered to stay with Charlie while Sam and Dean went off to find the mirror. Sam was riding shotgun while Dean drove the Impala through the rain toward the Estate Antiques store. They had been talking about Charlie and about how it wasn't her fault that her boyfriend had died. Then Sam brought up the valid point that smashing the mirror might not be enough. He suggested that they would have to summon her to her own mirror to ensure it worked.

"Well, who's going to summon her?"

"I will. She'll come after me." Sam nodded confidently.

"You know what? That's it." Dean pulled the car over and looked at Sam. "This is about Jessica, isn't it? You think that's your dirty little secret that you killed her somehow? SAM, this has got to stop, man. I mean, the nightmares and calling her name out in the middle of the night...it's gonna kill you. Now listen to me...It wasn't your fault. If you wanna blame something, then blame the thing that killed her. Or hell, why don't you take a swing at me? I mean, I'm the one that dragged you away from her in the first place."

"I don't blame you." Sam admitted.

"Well you shouldn't blame yourself because there's nothing you could of done."

"I could of warned her."

"About what? You didn't know what was gonna happen! And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean I know all about it. It's not gonna work with Mary anyway." Dean shook his head and sighed.

"No, you don't."

"I don't what?"

"You don't know all about it. I haven't told you everything." Sam confessed looking at Dean.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, it wouldn't really be a secret if I told you, would it?"

"No, I don't like it. It's not going to happen. Forget it." Dean shook his head again stubbornly.

"Dean, that girl back there is going to die unless we do something about it. And you know what? Who knows how many more people are gonna die after that? Now we're doing this. You've got to let me do this."

Back at the motel, Charlie had cried herself to sleep. Ruby monitored her carefully unsure of how far Bloody Mary's reach extended. When it became apparent that the girl was having a nightmare, Ruby shook her gently only for her to wake up a few moments later appearing startled. Charlie calmed down after a bit once she realized she was okay and sighed softly as she sat up.

"I don't get it. How do you go through this day after day and not go insane?" She asked looking over at the older blonde.

Ruby sighed softly as she ran her fingers through her long golden locks, "You get used to it, I guess. As lame as that sounds, it's the truth. I lost my mother when I was very young and trust me, if my father had it his way, I wouldn't be hunting."

"Then why do you?" Charlie asked glancing over at Ruby.

She bit her lip as she thought about it carefully for a few moments before speaking again, "Because I know what it feels like to lose a parent at a young age. I lost my mom, like I said, and then for about a year after that, I lost my dad as well. He just took the loss of my mother really hard. So I do what I do to keep others from going through what I had to go through. I mean, we don't always save everyone, as you've noticed with Mr. Shoemaker and your friend Jill. We try our damn hardest though."

* * *

Outside the shop, Sam worked to pick the lock while Dean glanced around to make sure no one caught them. They entered the shop a few moments later and swore under their breaths when they saw the vast amount of mirrors in the place. Dean pulled out the picture of the mirror they were searching for and sighed. Splitting up to search for the mirror seemed to be their best bet so they did just that oblivious to the flashing light of the motion detector that was attached to the store's silent alarm. They met up near the back of the store not having any luck finding the mirror.

"Maybe they've already sold it." Dean suggested looking over at his younger brother.

"I don't think so." Sam remarked as his flashlight stopped upon one mirror in particular.

"That's it." Dean sighed after pulling the picture out again to compare it to the mirror in question, "You sure about this?"

Sam's only response was a sigh as he handed the flashlight to Dean before he began to chant her name. He said it twice before glancing at Dean who gave him an unsure look. Picking up a crowbar, Sam steadied himself keeping his focus on the mirror as he fatefully uttered Bloody Mary a third time. It was then that Dean noticed a light shining through the store.

"I'll go check that out. Stay here. Be careful. Smash anything that moves." He instructed Sam before sneaking through the store.

It was when he saw a headlight that Dean put his crowbar down and walked out of the store. While he dealt with the cops, Sam was dealing with Mary's spirit. He smashed one mirror when he saw her reflection and then another before getting her to appear in her own mirror. Seeing his own reflection, Sam looked oddly at it before a trickle of blood fell from his eye. The crowbar fell from his hand as he grasped his chest finding it difficult to breathe. As the spirit yelled at Sam blaming him for Jessica's death, he fell to the ground. Then the mirror smashed as a crowbar came flying out of nowhere colliding with the glass.

"Sam! Sammy!" Dean called out as he rushed to his brother's side kneeling down to check on him.

"It's Sam."

"God, are you okay?" He frowned slightly noticing the trickles of blood coming from Sam's eyes.

"Uh, yeah." Sam nodded slowly.

"Come on, come on." He helped Sam up ducking under his arm so that Sam could lean on him.

They began to walk away when they heard the sound of glass being moved. Turning around, they saw the spirit of Mary crawling out of the mirror over the broken glass. She stood up walking toward them and they fell to the ground. Both boys had blood trickling from their eyes, but it was Dean who had managed to grab a mirror holding it up to face her. She was forced to see her own reflection which taunts her about all of the people she had killed. She began to choke before suddenly melting into a pool of blood. Dean threw the mirror down and it shattered.

"Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"This has got to be like...what? 600 years of bad luck?" Dean asked earning a weak chuckle from Sam.

* * *

The boys had made sure to clean themselves up before returning to the hotel so as to not worry Ruby or frighten Charlie. They packed up the Impala and checked out of the motel after assuring Charlie that it was alright. Ruby sat in the back of the car with the teenage girl as they drove her back home. Sam was driving shotgun of course as Dean drove.

"So this is really over?" Charlie asked in a hopeful yet disbelieving tone.

"Yeah, it's over." Dean nodded his head in confirmation.

"Thank you." She flashed a thankful look at the three of them and shook Dean's hand before getting out of the car only to turn to look at Sam when he called her name.

"Your boyfriend's death...you really should try to forgive yourself. No matter what you did, you probably couldn't have stopped it. Sometimes bad things just happen." Sam spoke softly earning a faint smile from her in response before she headed into the house.

"That's good advice." Dean punched his shoulder lightly before pulling the car away from the house.

They drove through the town in comfortable silence at first. Ruby ended up falling asleep in the back. Dean eventually lowered the music a bit once he noticed she had fallen asleep.

"Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Now that this is all over, I want you to tell me what that secret is."

"Look, you're my brother, I'd die for you, but there are some things that I just need to keep to myself." Sam responded looking at him before glancing out of the window.

Up ahead, he saw Jessica standing at the street corner in a long white nightgown which made him sit up straighter. His eyes remained on her as the car drove past and he turned in his seat to look at her as the car turned the corner. She disappeared behind the light pole and he blinked before shaking his head. Dean looked over at him curiously before focusing on the road as he drove them out of town.


	6. Skin

Title: Calls Me Home

Summary: A journey through seven seasons of Supernatural through the eyes of two Winchesters and a Singer.

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ruby Singer, Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and a whole ton of others.

Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to Eric Kripke & Co. The title belongs to the song "Calls Me Home" by Shannon LaBrie.

Author's Note: I would just like to say that the timeline is so screwed up at some points. It's almost mind boggling.

* * *

Chapter Six

* * *

It wasn't too long after the last case that the Winchesters brought Ruby back home to South Dakota. A thin layer of sparkling white snow seemingly covered everything as the Impala pulled into the Singer Salvage Yard. Ruby was the first one out of the car and she couldn't help doing a playful little twirl as the snow flurries continued to fall around them. The holiday season always did bring out the kid in her. She stopped twirling, however, when she saw her father walk out and she ran over to hug him. He returned the hug happily and then gestured for the boys to come inside. Bobby knew that Dean was fully capable of driving the Impala, but that didn't mean he was actually going to let the boys drive back out in this chaotic weather. So with that in mind, the Winchesters stayed the night enjoying a home-cooked meal with the Singers. It was after dinner that Ruby had insisted on doing the dishes herself so her dad could just relax. What she hadn't counted on was Dean volunteering to help her.

"So why didn't you tell me that you had kept up with Sammy while he was at Stanford?" Dean asked glancing over at the beautiful blonde beside him as he dried the dishes and put them away.

Ruby sighed and shook her head slightly as her blue eyed gaze remained focused on the glass she was currently washing, "I tried to, at first, but every time I brought up Sam, you kind of got upset. He always asked about you though. He wanted me to look out for you. Make sure John wasn't pushing you too hard."

He nodded his head smiling faintly before continuing to dry the dishes. An awkward silence fell upon the pair until Dean finally chose to speak up again.

"Listen, Ruby, uh, about that kiss..." He began as he scratched the back of his head while searching for the right words to say.

The blonde turned to look at him eyeing the elder Winchester brother curiously, "What about it?"

"Look, I'm not going to lie. I enjoyed it. I just don't want you getting your hopes up or anything. My main priority right now is helping Sam find Dad so we can finally gank the son of a bitch that killed Mom and Jess. I just..I can't afford any distractions." He admitted with a heavy sigh.

Ruby listened intently before shaking her head, "Dean, I get it. I'd stop at nothing to find my dad too."

"Yeah, you're right. Anyway, It's getting late. I should probably check on Sam and try to get some sleep." Dean nodded and gave her a brief hug before walking out of the kitchen to check on his brother.

* * *

The boys left not too long after breakfast the following day while Ruby had opted to stay home with her father. She kept in the touch with the boys though mostly speaking with Sam more often than not. The Singers had a rather low key Christmas filled with egg nog, Christmas specials, and a crackling fire within the fireplace. They exchanged gifts as well. A necklace, a blank journal, and a new pair of boots for her. New clothes, Some books he had been wanting, and an engraved flask for him. When New Year's rolled around, Bobby had gone off on a hunt with Rufus and Ruby was left to man the phones. Ruby kept busy during January with various hunts, manning the phones, and just helping her dad. When January 24th arrived, Ruby bit her lip before sending a simple Happy Birthday text to Dean. He replied with a simple thanks. Things continued on for the Winchesters and Ruby the same way for about the next month. Then one day around the end of February, Dean was at a gas station filling the Impala's tank while Sam was still sitting in the passenger's seat looking focused as he messed with his cell phone.

"We'll probably hit Tucumcari by lunch then head south. That should leave us at Bisbee by midnight." Dean announced looking at Sam who remained quietly focused on his phone, "Sam wears women's underwear."

"I've been listening, you ass. I'm just busy." The younger Winchester finally responded not taking his eyes off of his phone as he scrolled down.

"Busy doing what, Sam?"

"Reading emails"

"Emails from who?"

"From my friends at Stanford."

"You still keep in touch with your college buddies? You got to be kidding me! What do you say to them about what you've been doing?" Dean asked looking at his brother incredulously.

"Just that I needed some time off after Jess so I'm on a road trip with my big brother." Sam shrugged his shoulders, "I know it's not exactly the truth, but what else can I do?"

"Look, I know it sucks, but in a job like this, you can't get close to people, period."

"Like you and Ruby?" He teased before frowning at his phone, "God..."

"Shut up. That's different. Wait, what's wrong?" Dean shook his head before noticing the frown.

"It's this girl, Rebecca Warren, one of those friends of mine. She sent me an email. I went to school with both her and her brother Zack. Apparently he's been charged with murder. She says that he didn't do it, but it sounds like the cops have a pretty good case. They believe he killed his girlfriend." Sam responded ignoring Dean's question of if she was hot.

"Dude, what kind of people are you hanging out with?"

"No, I know Zack, he's no killer." Sam shook his head as he closed his email, "They live in St. Louis. We're going."

"Look, Sam, I'm sorry about your buddy, but this doesn't sound like our kind of problem." He said as he got back into the Impala after he was done filling the car's tank with gas.

"They're my friends. It is our problem."

"St. Louis is four hours behind us, Sam." Dean sighed exchanging a look with his brother before driving off, "Call Ruby. I have a feeling that we're going to need her on this one."

* * *

After picking Ruby up along the way, the boys arrived in front of the address that Rebecca Warren had given to Sam. It was a nice place in a nice neighborhood. The three of them approached the front door and Sam knocked. It was a few moments later that the door swung open revealing a pretty blonde. Dean and Ruby watched as the blond greeted Sam. Once the pair pulled away from the hug, Dean stepped forward introducing himself as he extended his hand toward Rebecca. The older blonde had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she and Sam watched the pair shake hands.

"Oh and this is Ruby, Dean's girlfriend." Sam spoke up before Ruby could introduce herself and watched as the two blondes shook hands.

Dean and Ruby both glared at the back of Sam's head as the three of them followed Rebecca into the house. It was the elder Winchester that shut the front door behind them and complimented Rebecca on the nice place. She explained that it belonged to her parents and that she was just staying there for the long weekend when everything happened so she had decided to take the semester off instead.

"Where are your folks?" Sam asked as they followed her into the kitchen.

Rebecca turned to look at them offering drinks before sighing softly, "They live in Paris for half the year, but they are on their way home for the trial."

"No, thanks. Oh, well that's good that they are heading back then. So tell us what happened." Sam spoke up keeping his focus on his friend.

The blonde gave sodas to Dean and Ruby before sighing again, "Zack went home and found his girlfriend Emily tied to a chair. She was bloody and beaten up to the point that she wasn't breathing so naturally he called 911. The police..they showed up and arrested him. He couldn't of killed Emily though unless he was in two places at one time. There's a security tape from across the street that shows Zack arriving at home at ten thirty. Emily's death was said to of occurred just after that, but I swear..he was here with me having a few beers until after midnight."

"You know, maybe we could see the crime scene. Zack's house." The younger Winchester suggested softly.

A confused Rebecca eyed him curiously, "Why? I mean, no offense, but what could you do?"

"Well, me, not much, but Dean here is a cop."

"Uh, a detective actually. In Bisbee, Arizona. I'm off duty now, of course." Dean laughed slightly in an attempt to not show that the cover made him a bit uncomfortable.

She shook her head sighing softly, "You guys, it's really nice of you to offer, but I just don't know."

"Bec, look, we know Zack didn't do this. Now we just have to find a way to prove that he's innocent." Sam looked at her imploringly.

Rebecca gave in after a moment and smiled softly, "Alright, let me go get the keys."

"Oh yeah, man, you're a real straight shooter with your friends." Dean spoke once the blonde had disappeared down the hall to get her keys.

"Look, Zack and Becky need our help."

"I just don't think this is our kind of problem."

Ruby shrugged as she chose to put her two cents in, "Two places at once? We've looked into less, Dean."

* * *

"Bec, you want to wait outside?" Sam asked wanting to spare his friend from being even more upset.

Rebecca shook her head as she ducked under the police tape entering her brother's house, "No, I want to help."

"Alright, well tell us what the police said." Sam glanced around the place before looking at her.

She teared up a bit as she thought back, "There was no sign of a forced entry so Emily must of let her attacker in. The lawyers..they are already talking about plea bargains. Oh, god."

Ruby bit her lip before looking at the other blonde, "Look, if your brother didn't do this, obviously someone else did. Any idea who would want to hurt Emily or get your brother in trouble?"

The blonde shook her head before remembering something. There had been a robbery about a week before the murder. Someone had broken in and stole some of Zack's clothes. The police didn't think it was anything considering that they were close to downtown. As Sam and Ruby looked around the place, Dean walked back over toward the open front door noticing the neighbor's dog barking loudly. After talking to Rebecca a bit about the dog, Dean walked off to find Sam who was in the hallway looking at a framed picture of himself, Rebecca, and Zack.

"So the neighbor's dog went psycho right around the time that Zack's girlfriend was killed." Dean spoke up looking at the picture as well for a moment.

"Animals can have a sharp sense of the paranormal. So you think maybe this is our problem?"

"No, probably not, but we should get a look at that security tape just to make sure." Dean remarked turning as Rebecca approached them along with Ruby.

The blonde hunter looked over at the other blonde sympathetically, "So about that security footage, think maybe your lawyer could get a hold of that tape? Dean here is out of his jurisdiction."

Rebecca nodded her head, "I already have the tape. I just didn't want to say anything in front of the cop. I stole it off of the lawyer's desk. I just had to see it for myself."

As the four of them leave the house, a man looking identical to Zack was sitting across the street from a different house not too far away watching an Asian man saying goodbye to his wife. As the Asian man drives off and his wife heads back inside, Zack's lookalike smiled wickedly as his eyes glinted silver for a moment. Back at Zack and Rebecca's parents' home, the Winchesters and Ruby watched the tape with Rebecca noting the tape shows Zack arriving at his home just after ten. Rebecca confirmed that the time of death was ten thirty and that the lawyer had a video expert check out the tape only to prove that it was authentic meaning it wasn't tampered with at all. Noticing something, Sam has Rebecca head to the kitchen to get him a drink. He waited until she was out of sight before speaking up.

"Check this out." Sam remarked rewinding the tape to a moment where Zack looks in the camera and his eyes are silver.

"It could be a camera flare." He responded with a slight shrug.

Ruby eyed the image for a moment before looking over at Dean skeptically, "I've never seen a camera flare like that."

"Some cultures believe a photograph can capture a glimpse into the soul." Sam spoke up looking at the pair.

The blonde nodded her head, "Right. Hey, remember the dog that was freaking out? Maybe he saw this thing. Maybe we're dealing with some kind of dark double of Zack's. It looks like him, but it isn't him. Like a doppelganger or something."

"That would explain how he was two places at once." The younger Winchester agreed as he stopped the tape turning it off.

* * *

Ruby had never really been a morning person yet the next day she was up at five thirty in the morning with the Winchesters. She was sipping on coffee trying to pay attention as Sam and Dean spoke once they arrived at the crime scene again. Sam had noted that the videotape showed the killer going in, but never going out. She followed them around outside the building until Sam found a blood smear on a telephone pole. It was the end of the trail though as there was nothing else showing which direction the killer could of possibly went. Just then, an ambulance with its sirens blaring drove past them and the trio exchange a look. They walked over blending in with the small crowd as an Asian man is seen in handcuffs being put into the back of a police car.

"What happened?" Dean asked observing the scene in front of them.

"He tried to kill his wife. Tied her up and beat her. The poor thing." A woman commented looking on in disbelief, "He was the nicest guy. I used to see him go off to work in the mornings. He'd wave and say hello."

They watched the man get taken away and once everything had calmed down a bit, Sam along with Ruby began looking around the outside of the building where the Asian man lived with his wife. They didn't seem to find anything and were soon joined by Dean who seemed to agree that it was there problem after all as he spoke to a patrolman who told him that the suspect claimed he was driving home from a business trip when his wife was attacked. It was yet again another story of a suspect being two places at once.

"Shapeshifter? Something that can make itself look like anyone?" Sam suggested looking at both of them.

Ruby brushed her hair away from her face and nodded, "There is lore in practically every culture of the world about shapeshifters. Men who can turn into animals or other men."

"Right. Skinwalkers, Werewolves." Sam nodded.

"Two attacks within blocks of each other? I'm guessing there's a shapeshifter in the neighborhood." Dean commented glancing around before looking at them again.

"Let me ask you this, in all of the shifter lore, can any of them fly?" Sam asked only to see both of them shake their heads no, "I picked up a trail here. Someone ran out the back of this building and headed off this way."

"Just like at Zack's house."

"Yeah and just like at Zack's house, the trail abruptly ends. It's as if this thing just disappeared." The younger Winchester threw his hands up in the hair in slight frustration.

"Well there is another way to go. Down." Dean suggested causing all three of them to glance down at a nearby manhole cover.

Ruby's bright blue eyes widened before she visibly grimaced, "I am not going down into a sewer."

Before she could protest further, Sam looked at her and she gave in. The blonde never could say no to those puppy dog eyes. She followed them down the manhole into the sewer and held a flashlight as they started to walk through the sewer. It was Dean that spotted the pile of blood and skin which the sight of caused Ruby to cover her mouth as the boys bent down to examine the find. Dean deduced that the shifter possibly sheds its skin when it changes shape. Sam and Ruby agreed that it was a sick thought before the three of them headed back up the manhole. At the Impala, Dean opens the trunk and starts pulling out weapons.

"Well, one thing I learned from Dad is that no matter what kind of shapeshifter it is, there is only one sure way to kill it." Dean spoke as he loaded a gun.

"Silver bullet to the heart."

"That's right." Dean smirked handing a gun to Sam whose cell phone rang at that moment.

It was Rebecca that was calling Sam. She had apparently told her lawyer about them looking at the crime scene and discovered through the lawyer that Dean wasn't a detective after all. Before Sam could explain, she said goodbye and hung up. He shook his head following Dean and Ruby back down into the sewer. Sam led the way through the sewer with Ruby behind him and Dean behind her. It was Dean who spotted the pile of skin and blood on the pipe by Sam's head as the younger Winchester walked by.

"Oh gross." Sam grimaced as he saw it as well before turning to look at Dean only to see the shifter behind his brother, "Dean, it's the shifter! Look out!"

As Dean turned toward the shifter, the monster in question hit Dean and took off running. Sam stopped to check on Dean, but his brother insisted that Sam go after the shifter. Ruby helped Dean up and they followed the shifter back above ground onto the streets. The trio split up to look for the monster only for Sam to end up back at the Impala. It wasn't long afterward that Dean approached him.

"Where's Ruby?" Sam asked as he cocked the gun that was in his hands.

"Oh, uh, she went back around to Rebecca's just in case." Dean said eyeing the weapons filled trunk.

"You're not my brother." He pointed his loaded gun right at Dean's face.

"Whoa, Sammy, watch that thing. Of course I'm your brother."

Sam remained unconvinced, though, and asked Dean a question about their father that only the Winchesters would know. Dean answered the question correctly and Sam lowered the gun. It was when Sam took his eyes off of Dean that he was knocked out proving that this Dean was really the shifter posing as Dean. The younger Winchester came to a little while later only to find that he was tied to a wooden post. The shapeshifter walked over and backhanded Sam across the face.

"Where is he? Where's Dean?" Sam groaned as he glared at the creature before him.

"I wouldn't worry about him if I were you. Man, I thought I came from a messed up background." The creature taunted the younger Winchester.

"Where is my brother?"

"You left and he..I..had to stay behind with Dad. You don't think I had dreams of my own? But no, I had to stay to help Dad." The creature continued to taunt him.

"Where is my brother?" Sam asked again glaring at the creature.

"I am your brother. Deep down, I'm just jealous. You could have a life. You have friends. Me? I know I'm a freak. Sooner or later, everyone's going to leave me."

"What are you talking about?"

"You left. Hell, I did everything that Dad asked and even he left. Left me with your sorry ass. But, still, this job has its perks. You meet the nicest people. Like little Becky. You know, Dean would bang her if he had the chance. Let's see what happens." The creature smiled and placed a sheet over Sam's head.

* * *

At Rebecca's house, the creature knocked on the door. A blonde walked over and opened the door except it wasn't the blonde that he was hoping for. It was Ruby. She let him in without hesitation and then glanced behind him curiously.

"What?"

The blonde shook her head and then looked at him, "Where's Sam?"

"He, uh, feels bad about lying to the girl. He's out by the car psyching himself up to come in here. Where is she anyway?" The creature asked as she shut the door.

Ruby nodded sighing softly, "I explained everything to her. She was hesitant to believe me at first, but I eventually got through to her. She's upstairs."

In a building somewhere in town, Sam had managed to knock the sheet off of his head. He was focused on trying to loosen the ropes that were wrapped around his wrists. Coughing was heard and Sam glanced over seeing Dean.

"That better be you, Sam, and not that freak of nature." Dean called out earning a laugh from Sam.

"Yeah, it's me. He went to Rebecca's looking like you." He informed his brother as they both worked to undo the ropes that were around their wrists.

"Well he's not stupid. He picked the handsome one."

Back at Rebecca's, the shifter felt confident that he had been able to lure Ruby into a false sense of security. Rebecca had come back downstairs and Ruby was forced to watch as 'Dean' flirted with her. Until the blonde freaked out at something that he had whispered to her which made Ruby realize that they weren't dealing with Dean after all. Ruby immediately went on the defensive stepping in between them. With the shifter distracted with fighting Ruby, Rebecca had grabbed the phone to dial 911. That, however, caught the shifter's attention and he shoved Ruby at a wall knocking her out before smacking the phone away from Rebecca. He tied her wrists together with the telephone cord before moving back to Ruby tying her up as well. Picking the blonde huntress up, he placed her in a closet and shut the door. He then grabbed Rebecca and brought her upstairs. The shifter tied her to a chair and pulled out a knife. He was about to attack when a crash was heard from somewhere in the house. Rebecca screamed and the shifter placed his hand over her mouth while pressing the knife against her throat. As a S.W.A.T. team moved through the house, the shifter moved across the hall into another room shutting the door behind him. He looked around only to spot a pair of doors that led out onto a balcony. As he opened them, the S.W.A.T. team burst in yelling at him to drop the knife. Instead, the shifter threw the knife at one of the men and they began to shoot at him. He kicked one of the guys and then ran out onto the balcony jumping off.

The Winchesters had finally gotten untied and out of the building. They were walking through town and Dean got increasingly worried as he kept trying Ruby's phone only to get no answer. That is until they stopped in front of a store window that had numerous TVs in it all showing the same thing. A wanted poster for Dean. They listened to the news report before cutting through the alley.

"They said attempted murder so that means both girls are okay." Sam spoke hoping to reassure them both.

"Well that's good. Now can we find this bastard so I can kick the holy hell out of him?" Dean asked grimacing as he walked through a puddle.

"We have no weapons. He stole the ones we had." Sam paused as they both were thinking, "The car?"

"I'm betting he drove over to Rebecca's."

"Well the news did say he fled on foot."

The boys walked to Rebecca's house and sure enough, the Impala was parked on the side of the house. Unfortunately, at that moment, a police car pulled up beside the Impala. A few yards away is another police car. They moved back to a fence staying out of sight. Dean reluctantly went over the fence by himself letting Sam stay behind to hold the cops off. Once the coast was clear, Dean returned to the Impala and retrieved some weapons from the trunk. He then headed down into the sewer and looked around. He found various piles of skin and blood which leads him to believe that he's on the right track. Then he spots a figure covered with a sheet. He pulls the sheet off only to find a frightened Rebecca.

* * *

Sam had already been cleared by the cops and was sitting in Rebecca's house talking to her. She replaces his empty beer bottle with a new one while asking how he planned on stopping the shifter.

"Silver bullet to the heart."

Rebecca responded that he was crazy and then smacked him over the head with the empty beer bottle rendering Sam unconscious. A glint of silver could be seen in her eyes revealing that she was the shifter and not really Rebecca. When Sam regained consciousness, the shifter had already returned to Dean's form. He finished tying Sam's hands and feet before grabbing a knife examining it.

"What are you going to do to me?" Sam asked looking over at the shifter.

"Oh I'm not going to do anything. Dean will."

Back in the sewer, Dean got Rebecca untied and helped her up. She explained that she had been walking home and something hit her over the head. That she wound up there in the sewer just in time to see the shifter turn into her. He managed to calm her down a bit and looked her over.

"Can you walk?" He looked at the blonde who nodded in response, "Good. We've got to hurry. Sam went to see you."

Rebecca nodded again as they made their way out of the sewer, "Wait, that girl you were with, Ruby? She was at the house. She..She tried to protect me from it, but it managed to knock her out. It put her in a closet."

That alone made Dean's heart sank and he moved toward Rebecca's house even faster. Inside the house, a tied up Sam was now in the living room forced to watch as the shifter carried Ruby out of the closet. The shifter tied her up as well and poured himself a drink. Grabbing the knife from the kitchen, he stuck it into the edge of a pool table that was there and took a sip of his drink. Quick thinking Sam lifted his long legs and kicked the shifter knocking it to the ground. He got up moving his hands up and down over the knife's blade until the ropes broke apart. He quickly untied his feet as well and grabbed the knife. As the shifter and Sam fought, Ruby worked on trying to undo the ropes around her wrists. The shifter and Sam fought around the living room with the creature getting the best of Sam at first. The blonde jumped when she felt a pair of hands by her wrists only to relax when she saw that it was Rebecca. As she undid the ropes for Ruby, Dean aimed his gun at the shifter and shot the creature in the heart once Sam was safely out of the way. He made sure the thing was dead before taking his necklace back. The sight of a dead body that looked just like Dean shook Ruby and Sam to the core. The boys, however, were relieved that Ruby was okay. Though they left soon after, the three of them returned once the police had finished investigating and taken the dead body away. They helped Rebecca fix up the living room and then said their goodbyes before leaving.

"Rebecca's meeting with the lawyer, but it looks like the case against Zack will be dropped in light of new evidence showing that the now deceased Dean Winchester was the killer all along." Sam announced as they drove away from the town.

"You know, I gotta say...I'm sorry that I'm going to miss it."

"Miss what?" Sam glanced over at Dean with a mixed expression of confusion and curiosity.

"How many chances am I gonna have to see my own funeral?" He remarked as they smiled at each other while Ruby simply shook her head staring out the window.


End file.
